A Bang Up Opening
Apple Bloom One Half: Mirrors Multiplied...
Story by
T.C.
Long term summary in a nutshell: Ranma falls into spring of drowned filly, Ryoga into spring of drowned bunny, and Moose gets Pinkie Pied, with help from the nanban mirror the three travel back in time to prevent what once went wrong...and find themselves locked up in Equestria.
Chapter 0
Oh the horror. It was a dark and cloudy night, and Akane Tendo was being held hostage. Bound and gagged tightly in a large fish tank, located center ring in a carnival tent, by a masked villain. The tank was void of anything except a few rocks, a thick layer of sand, and a lonely girl with blue shoulder length hair. An oyster shell had been strategically clipped in place to keep the hair out of her eyes as she eyed her captor like a hawk. Her arms bound behind her back, her wrists bound tightly together. The audience unaware of Akane's plight, simply assumed she was just a normal magician's assistant. The worst indignity was the mermaid costume she was dressed in. While the ornate pooka shells did little cover her modestly sized bust, they also cut into her skin like shards of glass. The the tank itself was cold and hard on her back as she twisted to get a better look at her jailer. Goosebumps crawled across her exposed midriff and arms as she felt the effects of an approaching thunderstorm. Akane had good reason to fear the water, not because she had almost drowned, but because she could not swim.
The tank was narrow, the width of a coffin, it was a little over five feet long and four caskets high. Above her a spigot attached to a large wine barrel loomed ominously. The Barrel was settled atop a crudely constructed water tower of bamboo and twine. Her screams were muffled as the sound of thunder loomed in time with the ladder as it struck the terrarium with a tonk. Her gag was made of cotton, it was yellow with black polka dots. Not that all this mattered much.
I took a moment to pluck a loose thread on the silk of my robes, and brush the dust from my drawstring pants, my balance off by the weight of a hare, quite literally as I had failed to prepare. The last minute preparations for my enemy's demise had cost me a magician's familiar and something else that I equally prized.
As I finish lighting the secret fuse that will unlock the veil of my concealment "Ladies and Gentlemen. Boys and gouls of all shapes and sizes, the Cirque du Lampwick is proud to present the clown prince of Sarawareta." The Ringmaster Cried "The amazing Muremu and his lovely assistant Ramona." With a puff of red smoke, who should appear, but myself of course in full performance regalia. After spreading my arms and using the hidden weapons technique to make wings of metal appear from my robed sleeves of white. Balanced atop a unicycle I collapse all the swords, and throwing knives, together with a 'schnickt' of delight. Until only two ornate dao swords remain. After a few acrobatic tricks I juggle the swords. Balanced atop the saddle of my wheel with one foot, while rolling backwards as I circle the tank. I perform a backflip as the unicycle rolls out of the spotlight. I continue to juggle the swords as I toss them over my shoulder with full expectation that they would land in the terrarium with my victim. Although she would find herself for the most part physically unharmed, I could care less about my reluctant assistant. This is about revenge for the life of my beloved, when blood cries out for blood and close only counts in horseshoes.
Then, all of a sudden, who should appear, but a crimson maned filly with a chipped tooth and a braid, being ridden by a rabbit wearing a pink ribbon or bow with a sick smile and blade being ready to throw. The two sure looked pissed and were ruining the show. The evidence was clear, the show must go on, the assistant must go into the great void beyond. Unfortunately, except for the trick of the eyes the mastermind of this debacle was practically blind. Encumbered by more weapons than a spider has silk he ran up the ladder, and boy was he quick. It's almost a shame he was humbled by physics, the laws themselves just barely knew of their limits. The weight on the ladder caused it to slide on the mulch, and the wheels of the cart supporting the terrarium he'd propped the ladder up against were obviously not locked.
The aim of the dao weren't that much better, its true, one just managed to miss the terrarium as it moved to the side, the other barely managed to graze the flat of the blade against the lip of the tank, before it found itself bungling, in a fumbling roll, before cutting the twine as it slid against the bamboo pole. The terrarium and cart bumped into the hastily built water tower which was collapsing. A pole splintered under the weight of the cask, the other unlashed with the aid of a sword, the wine barrel pitched forward, past the tipping point of no return, the back of the spigot hitting the other side of the terrarium as it descended pushing it further into what remained of the structure that once supported the behemoth, before the wine barrel collapsed like a water balloon as it splintered with the crush of an onomatopoeia.
Mu'Tsu was soaked. A clown prince to be sure, who had tripped over the ladder, and was currently up split creek with no paddle... his mask was lost, not that it much mattered. His appearance was dramatically altered beyond recognition, because the waters of Jusenkeyo rarely faltered beyond the veil. And, the curse needed negative karma to work its true magic.
His hair was now a shade of purple, close to pink, in in its hue. The nest of wet hair was probably mixed with a shade of navy or cobalt blue, but almost felt like cotton candy for consistency. Clearing the web of cotton candy from his eyes, with a wet cough, Mu'tsu snorted fire, as he expelled the water he swallowed. His lungs burned with the desire to inhale as if he had drowned. And, much to his surprise, he felt a kick to the head as he opened his eyes once released from their veil. Mu'tsu could hear the raindrops as they started to fall against the canvas of the bigtop, which shouldn't have been audible over the cheers of the audience. They say if you've seen one circus you've seen them all, but this one ain't over yet and it's troubles began with a simple prat fall.
Chapter 1
This is about revenge...
(The Saotome's arrive in Japan completing the final leg of their journey. After a brief layover in a haunted mansion, a brothel, and two hot springs Genma looks forward to reuniting with his old friend Soun Tendo. Meanwhile, Ranma picks up yet another magical curse [mirror spirit], a new enemy[Konatsu], and an unwanted fiance [Sentaro Daimonji]. Leaving the total number of character disadvantages somewhere between 34 and 63 depending on whether or not you consider things like shapeshifting, cold blooded, or dragon hair a disadvantage. And, this one is a doozy...)
Oh c'mon, Twincest can't really be that bad Ah-"The yellow filly with bright red hair and bright green eyes was cut off mid sentence by a nearly Identical filly with blue eyes.
"I don't care! It's icky. DAAAAA-ha-haD! Make her stop." The blue eyed filly whined. "If I have to listen to her drone on about the magic of friendship _just one more time_ I'm going to snap."
"Ranma, she's your clone, that makes her your problem." This statement was followed by the sound of ruffled paper as Genma was currently in his un-cursed form, wearing a training gi and bandanna, while leaning against a pay phone looking over a map of the Nermian district of Tokyo. "Besides, I thought you wanted a friend. You seemed like you were enjoying it for the first five hours or so." The two canine sized fillies were packed high with camping gear, settled near a park, and from a distance you could see one was sitting on it's haunches while the other was kind of bubbly with charisma and was sorta' bouncing around like a tigger escaped from the zoo.
"But she's a disgusting, self absorbed, troll faced, cotton headed ninny-mugger who's obsessed with friendship; And, I didn't even want to go to the creepy haunted mansion in the first place." Ranma complained as she attempted to adjust the weight of the ridiculously oversized rucksack she had been saddled with while it started sliding out of balance.
Truth be told the friendship between Ranma and the object of his narcissistic affection would have probably lasted little longer if she hadn't seen him naked. It was then that the illusion of sameness had been broken. Not only was she unaffected by the same curse he had received at Jusenkyo but, when she insisted that he become her boyfriend and that she wanted to have his babies, the fine line between creepy and weird had been crossed...
"Y-You don't think I'm apple licking adorable?" The clone stopped bouncing around as if someone had pulled the wind out of its sails. That she had enough energy to bounce at all was quite a feat considering she was carrying a heaver rucksack than Ranma's. Whereas Ranma's rucksack was seemingly only three times bigger and a hundred pounds heavier than Genma's bear form, the clone's burden had to weigh five times as much.
"NO!" Ranma and Genma Shouted unanimously. At this declaration of her ugliness the perverted green eyed filly bit her lower lip and sulked. Ranma shivered with disgust at his own dirty thoughts. He would have remained completely oblivious if his father hadn't spent a half hour explaining what his clone meant by certain double-entanderes like 'apple polishing.'
"Y-you don't love me anymore?" The green eyed filly asked before sniffling and crying like a fire hydrant. Considering her idea of friendship was bunny boiler levels of crazy the following statement was not an altogether unexpected reaction. "No-Nobody loves me because I'm gay. WAAAAAAAh!"
Naturally, since the mirror spirit was from a time when gay meant happy, theoretically, this statement slipping from the lips of a bipolar manic-depressive made even less sense than if she had actually been a lesbian.
Ranma, being the latest victim of the sadistic curse of the mirror mansion, didn't buy the story of the poor little, boy crazy, orphan princess who died friendless and alone... even if it was during a meteor shower, on the night of a blue moon, and she majorly screwed up a familiar summoning spell. Ranma didn't buy this story for one cotton picking minute, as far as he was concerned the mirror clone was the familiar, and the only way to get away from it at this point was suicide. There were just to many coincidences and inconsistencies in her story for it to make any reasonable sense. Not to mention she was probably the best liar he had ever met. And, Ignoring the fact she wanted to milk him for all of gods tears, (whatever the hell that meant,) She was definitely a reflection of all his complexities and insecurities.
"Oh for pete's sake... we're doing this AGAIN?" Ranma groaned, to him the clone was his exact opposite. Annoyingly dependent and in need of constant validation. Ranma looked at her father "you do realize this is all your fault."
"It was the only bed and breakfast in town that allowed bears, and nobody said anything about the talking horse. Besides, we couldn't very well show up at the Tendo's looking like- " Genma was cut off before he could get a word in edgewise.
"That's because it wasn't a bed and breakfast,it was a *)bucking(* asylum, you jackass." Ranma spat "And, it was kind of obvious the guy working there already lost his marbles. And, thanks to Starlight Sparklebum over here, I know why! " Ranma argued. Had Ranma not known better he might have suspected his father only went to the mansion for access to it's extensive library of arcane magics, Heaven knows there was no other reason for the two fillies to be carrying an entire bookshelf worth of books between the two of them... Not that Genma actually read books, so who knows what the game plan was there.
"I thought you were my friends..." the green eyed filly turned pack mule sobbed her head hung low, her energy deflated.
"It isn't my fault you're uncoordinated. If you spent more time in your cursed form you wouldn't have slipped on that banana peel, And, the mirror wouldn't have been a problem." Genma Scolded
"And who's fault was it that we were cursed in the first place!?" Ranma yelled as he got up off his haunches and squared himself back onto his feet.
"Hey! Listen! Quit ignoring me. That's no way to treat a friend." The green eyed filly snapped.
"Oh Shut y'er yap, I'm sure there's a land filled with magical unicorns and rainbows out there for you somewhere." Ranma snarked as he turned his attention back to the facsimile of his current form.
"I don't think I like you anymore." the other filly huffed.
"And, I don't like you at all. So, I guess that makes us even." Ranma glared.
"I hate you! I Hate You! I HATE YOU!" The other filly raged as she clopped him in the face with her left hoof and simultaneously chipping one of his teeth while pushing Ranma into the mud. overbalanced by the weight of his pack Ranma sort of toppled over into a roll until he was laying upside down on his makeshift saddle bag. Meanwhile, the clone from mirror mansion ran off to parts unknown weighed down by a broken heart along with Genma's rucksack and camping gear. Ranma's father dropped the map and tried to stabilize the teeter tottering of the upside down rocking horse to his left.
"Oh yeah! Well... come back here you flipping tooth fairy!" Ranma yelled uselessly as he struggled to break free of the weight of the rucksack, camping gear, and books. " And I'll show you what real friendship feels like."
"Awe Dammit! She's got all our sake... money." Genma realized as he finally steadied the motion of the miniature rocking horse "After her boy! Run like the wind."
"Oh Yeah, I'll get right on top of that pops. Just as soon as my feet hit the ground and you unsaddle this rucksack." Ranma just sort of wiggled his legs uselessly in the air for a moment as he tried to generate some false sense of correct balance and break loose from the bungie cords. This was, of course, a futile effort that which was virtually pointless given the amount of gear leashed to his back and his lack of thumbs at the moment.
Elsewhere, a certain lost martial artist was searching in vain for food. Technically, he was searching for Ranma Saotome, his rival, for having the audacity to walk out on a man to man duel four years ago. This probably had absolutely nothing to do with constantly being teased, bullied, and harassed for being Ranma's secret Yowie crush. And, when Ranma didn't show up for their date... that is to say "battle of manly pride," Ryoga decided to do the persistent, totally non stalker, boyfriend thing of chasing him down to the edge of the earth for his betrayal. Because, friendship totally works like that when it involves Ranma Saotome, apparently there are reasons. Heaven forbid concepts like emotional distance and social boundaries exist, that sort of thinking is crazy talk. Especially, if somebody has a latent reactive attachment disorder and suddenly imprints upon another somebody like a baby duck. Of course, along with the imprinting comes the intaglio of displaced anger towards the mother hen, couple this with connotative ideas of loyalty being a brother to honesty, gratitude being supplanted with worship, and respect being confused with fear, and you have a monster as vicious as a bellicose bunny.
Speaking of which, a funny thing happened to the wandering martial artist on the way to Jusenkeyo. There Ryoga was, hot on the trail of his mortal frienemy, after climbing a hill and reaching a summit overlooking what was literally the most breathtaking view for the springs of sorrow in all of Jusendo. When, all of a sudden, Ryoga was pushed out of the way by what he would later learn was an Ursa Minor fleeing in abject terror from a what he assumed was a yellow cat based on the walluring meow and skimbleshanks he heard as he slipped and fell into the cursed waters below. As Ryoga crashed helplessly into the spring of drowned vorpal bunny (or something to that effect), in an autistic moment of post hoc ergo propter hoc thinking, he knew exactly who to blame for this situation, and it definitely wasn't his mother. Ranma Saotome was going to pay for this humiliation one way or another.
In yet another time and place to be determined... (but, more than likely a few hours before the arrival of some important dignitary from Canterlot to check up on the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration.)
The fillies and colts in Cherrilee's classroom were in awe of their visitor. Probably because most Kirin were about as rare and elusive as thestrals. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that Apple Bloom was presently in class and hadn't developed her cutie mark, essentially rendering her immune to poison joke for the time being, Cherrilee might have suspected the visiting marshal (or new sheriff if the mayor had her way) was Apple Bloom herself.
She wore a black tyrolean hat with a matching high collared vest, leg warmers and/or bracers. Her red mane was almost as long as princess Celestia's and was roughly braided. In contrast, her tail was cropped short, tied with green ribbon, and her creamy sand colored fur was about as unkempt as Apple Bloom's if she'd had a run in with a manticore. Harnessed to her left flank was a leather holster sporting a sixshooter with a carved ivory handle and hair trigger. Under the vest she was wearing a cornflower blue dickey, with a mandarin collar and wooden ties, like a cravat. However, the most interesting thing was the decorative crescent shaped boomerang [Gekkaja] made of silver and white gold holstered to her right hip opposite the gun.
Of course, given what Cherrilee knew of cutie marks, the 'big dipper' was probably the laziest forgery of a cutie mark ever. (And, ironically enough, a symbol of destruction and bad luck in certain eastern religions...) It looked like it was drawn in haste with permanent marker, and given rumors of a changeling in Canterlot calling herself 'Starlight Sparklebum' ticking off Princess Celestia, it probably wasn't the safest of options for a blank flank. Of course, given the fact that 'Sparklebum' was rumored to be seven to twelve years old and 'Starscream appeared to be at least ten years older (if not closer to adulthood), the chances of her being the same pony were about the same as her being Apple Bloom's clone or twin sister. Still, it was unusual for any pony as old as her classroom visitor to be without a cutie mark. And, she didn't appear to be what one would consider altogether untalented. After all, she was able to take down Pinkie Pie... twice. She wasn't sure what Pinkie Pie did wrong, there were rumors of ponies going missing for breaking their promises of course, but, Pinkie seemed mostly harmless otherwise. Granted, while the vicious rumors started by a griffon named Gilda implying Pinkie vivisected ponies in the basement of Sugarcube Corner in order to make a technicolor dream-coat were interesting, there wasn't any reason to suspect she was any more evil than Daimond Tiara or Trixie Lulamoon. Putting aside that mystery for later, there was always the possibility Starscream's talent was related to drinking or gambling and those talents were always a double edged sword.
Starscream wasn't exactly a marshal in any official capacity. She just said that she was a marshal so she could convince the local mayor of the shire to allow her unfettered access to the local hoosegow. Technically, she hadn't even intended to say she was a marshal, but the mayor cut her off before she could finish explaining she was a martial artist making a citizen's arrest. Naturally, since 'marshal' and 'martial' sound about the same, there was little she could do about the slip up. Especially since the mayor, along with everyone else in town, were preparing for the Summer Sun Celebration. An act of necessary evil, undertaken in order that she might keep what she believed to be a dangerous monster behind the heavy iron bars of a portcullis and unsupervised for any length of time, seemed more reasonable than explaining the major buck up.
Starscream wasn't even her real name, she just borrowed the name off a transformer action figure Nabiki had insisted "he" replace after a claim she caught Sparklebum using it as a dildo... which was really awkward considering the mirror clone didn't have genitalia to the best of Ranma's knowledge. Based on her initial assessment of the locals, it wasn't like anyone in this town actually went anywhere beyond the borders of the everfree forest. So, it was more than likely, her cover story would hold together unless someone familiar with the real Starscream (or the transformers toy line in general) actually bothered to check up on her. Of course, there was the other general problem of the wanted posters all over Equestria for a dragon eyed pony named 'Starlight Sparklebum.' Which, Ranma was particularly proud of. In much the same way a two year old is proud of their uncanny ability to poop in a potty, because the guard wound up arresting Celestia's apprentice, before they got a more accurate description of her personal spore and familiar spirit.
Unfortunately, being a mirror clone of the original, Sparklebum's cutie mark would always a reflection of her own. This was an odd quirk in Ranma's opinion since the mirror clone didn't reflect physical changes caused by his assorted magical curses, while in part of fact remaining a reflection of his cursed form. Fortunately, because she successfully mastered Hinako's happogojuensatsu technique; And, since every pony would sooner look at her flank than her face, his true appearance was easily masked and his doppelganger temporarily exorcised. Ranma's recently acquired skill at henna body art also came in real handy despite his inability to magically manipulate objects with his hooves with the same precision as his hands. In fact, except for a trick of the eyes (and what one could argue was unruly rats nest of a hastily braided mane and floofy tail), he was just a regular looking earth pony, or more specifically a regular looking apple. She definitely had the apple coloring despite several protests to the contrary. And, there was the unfortunate disadvantage of being unable to 'flirt' an apple pie away from the cart vender Macintosh, much less any of the Apples in town for the summer sun celebration. For some odd reason it seemed they were colder with their own second order family members than complete strangers. Maybe they were just upset because her cutie mark didn't have an apple motif. Or, maybe, on some subconscious level they knew she probably represented the death of one of their own at the hands of Jusenkeyo.
Ranma, thankfully, no longer looked like a filly. At least not a young one like Apple Bloom so long as she absorbed chi, or the very life energy from the world around her at regular intervals. AppleBloom, whom he… that is to say she, had noticed bore an eerily similar appearance to his cursed form when he was invited by Cherry Lee or Cheerilee to be a guest speaker at the local finishing school. Because, after all, what does a miniature horse need to learn about? Besides "no work, no eat." and "sleep, drink, and be merry" there was nothing she could really offer them as far as advice.
It was the oddest thing too. Unless you were another apple, all you had to do in this town was tell them who you were, and what you did for a living, and they believed it hook line and sinker. As she had when originally cursed by the waters of Jusenkeyo, Ranma had to adapt to the changes in both her perspective and paradigm and accept the fact that she could openly discard sentiment with reckless abandon.
Other than the obvious quirk with the apples, the other ponies in this town were CRAZY. As far as Ranma was concerned the whole village was almost like a steel trap or roach motel designed by a tyrannical evil genius. The place seemed like it was staged to capture, house, and maintain all the lunatics in the asylum. In Ranma's opinion, if she didn't get out of Ponyville soon, it was only a matter of time before she was nominated the local king of hearts or became the next wicker-man. So far, the only person that didn't seem to believe he…she was a marshal transporting a prisoner was Sweetie Drops, who was either just as crazy as everyone else he encountered in Ponyville, or was actually a secret agent for a foreign government known as Saddle Arabia assigned to Ponyville for the Summer Sun festival thingy.
Sweetie Drops seemed completely on the level when she threatened to expose Ranma as a fraud, and it was entirely possible she genuinely believed him when he told her the truth... that he was a hairless ape like creature who was only cursed to look like a pony until he could get his hands on a dragon's whisker. Of course, once Ranma got the drop on her 'Bon Bon' wound up behind bars just as easily as Pinkie Pie. Ranma didn't have time or resources to figure out which pink pony was her pink pony for now, so at the moment she had three prisoners in lockup instead of just the one he started with in the monster of the month club's clubhouse.
Ranma wasn't sure what the Summer Sun Celebration was actually about, but from what she gathered the whole concept was practically lifted out of an episode of power rangers or a penny dreadful... Not that he actually had a broad base for a comparison level of alternatives. Apparently, Rita Repulsa, or more accurately Nightmare Moon, supposedly wanted to plunge Equestria into eternal night over a cask of amontillado. And, Celestia, being arbitrarily less evil but tall, cute, and a proper penny princess, sentenced her sister to a thousand years of social isolation while she transformed her empire into what she believed was a perfect, if not idealized, equine utopia. Of course, seeing as Celestia spent the last thousand years performing Zimbardo and Milgram experiments on her subjects from the safety of her castle in Canterlot. It was entirely possible that Nightmare Moon was just an innocent victim in this situation and this town really was just an elaborately constructed asylum for all of Celestia's failed social experiments.
Ranma knew something was very broken or odd about the local culture, even in comparison to her own. While the comparison level for alternatives Ranma had availed herself of wasn't based on economics, literature, case studies, social proof, stereotypes, or nihilism. Mostly because Ranma lived on the road and human nature was the same no matter where you dwelled and, if his father was to be believed, remained unchanged for the last three thousand years. On a purely instinctive ethnic level she knew less than two or three generations ago it was probably culturally understood that you would be lucky if you met three people you could trust to be close friends in your entire lifetime. Relationships had a lifespan, alliances were made to be broken. And, if you wanted loyalty you should get a dog, because otherwise you had to earn another person's personal favor or unconditional high regard. It wasn't a matter of elitism, high standards, or bigotry, friendship was really just unnecessary, it just made life more complicated. Naturally, with the sort of friends Ranma seemed to attract, it goes without saying he'd be better off befriending Satan or even his mortal enemy. Starlight Sparklebum would eventually become both. Here, in this strange other world he currently found himself in, friendship was like a religion. Granted, he understood the law of cause and effect, the purpose of networking, and had no trouble identifying who could provide a goods and services should he have the time or resources to obtain them. What bothered him was the cronyism and preferential treatment based on nothing more than charm and charisma supplanting actual ability and merit.
Some people just didn't have friends, Ranma was one of them. Ranma had many blessings, unfortunately aibogenesis just wasn't one of them. It wasn't that Ranma couldn't see any particular advantage to being able to make five friends with the magical thinking of make-believe in two days like a spoiled child or drug addict, nor that he lacked the ability to put together a ragtag team of misfit toys whose synergy relied entirely on preparation meeting opportunity and dumb luck. As a martial artist Ranma was trained not only to read body language, but to understand his personal presence, motivation, and simultaneously that of an opponent and audience. The audience was always watching, because if a martial artist was anything he was a traveling entertainer, court jester, and more often than not a fox. And, it went without saying only the sharpest eye, the keenest nose, the fastest deer, and the fleetest toes could ever outfox a fox. Here, on the other hoof, in this time and place, friendship was a pathology. If you didn't have friends or weren't an extrovert with a recognizable public profile, or if you lacked a personality or ability based on your tramp stamp there was something inherently wrong with you. Kind of like being labeled autistic if you were an introvert or would rather be left alone.
Ranma was, however, blessed with the Othello effect. Instead of benefiting from the halo effect like his father, he couldn't appeal to pity. And, by virtue of this blessing, would be three hairs from being both demon and demigod so long as he had no heritage, he had no paramours, and he continued to develop into a true artist who learned when to kill his ego. On the plus side, Ranma also had no real incentive to be dishonest, as it genuinely wouldn't matter what he could prove to others of his personal abilities or attributes, they would remember him to be (and believe him to be) as they wished they themselves were, unless they fed the other wolf of negative reinforcement, in which case he would be remembered for the things they hated about themselves.
While Ranma had extensive training in playing cards and other games of chance, most gambler's and card sharps didn't like Ranma much either. Mostly because the young martial artist appeared to be too dense to be a useful pawn, or lacked the emotional regulation to hold a decent poker face. Years of traveling with Genma had also made Ranma a difficult enabler, so addicts didn't particularly like him much. The fact that Genma insisted Ranma master the drunken fist hadn't helped matters as the only way to effectively get a child drunk was to force them to stay awake until they were beyond the point of fatigue and hypoxia before drilling them into compliance. Another problem with Ranma was not a mater of narcissism, but self preservation, Ranma somehow managed to figure out he was the most important person in his life and responsible for his own happiness and not the happiness of others. Thus making an unappealing friend or target to those who live for power, pleasure, or who would consciously give up their responsibility to take necessary and reasonable precaution to prevent social, spiritual, physical, and psychological harm. Naturally, it was also the unconscious part of Ranma, the one that had accepted life was pain and hoped the sooner people got used to it the better, who was a bit of a jerk. After all, as the saying goes, we can't all be perfect.
Ponyville, for whatever unexplained reason, had no law enforcement 'martial' or otherwise. Maybe it was the proximity to Canterlot, or maybe it was because the local weather team and farmers were part of the town militia. As such, they never really needed a sheriff before now. It just seemed odd to Ranma that there was this living asylum only a stone's throw away from the royal capital and no one was there to maintain some sense of order. It wasn't exactly like he was expecting some semi omnipotent mythical guardian, a certain someone, some pony, who knew everyone by name and could predict the future well enough to prevent bad things from happening or guide them. But, there had to be at least one pony in this crazy town that maintained some semblance of order, and it sure as heck wasn't the mayor. Then again, other than as buffer between the Queen and the general population of Canterlot, there really was no reason for the royal guard to be present either. He hadn't actually seen a Queen either, as it was fairly obvious pretty pony Princess Celestia appeared the highest authority in the land. And, Ranma being the random name generator that he was, had only met her one time, and once was enough.
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This truly is a bizarre premise, and weird on several levels. I'm all for it, having once enjoyed Ranma 1/2 in the past, but there is an issue where it isn't clear from the first chapter what this story wants to do. The prologue seems to go back and forth between first and third person, and involve Akane Tendou. But what occurred afterwards seems to suggest that the story is set (the trip to Equestria) before he even meets Akane in the first place. Or at least, the introduction to Ranma and Gemna is set before then.
Ranma looks like an older Apple Bloom while in Equestria, an actual mare instead of a filly? And is keeping Pinkie Pie and Moose, who also appears as Pinkie Pie, in the local jail while she searches for her mirror spirit counterpart, all before the Summer Sun Celebration?
I have to admit I'm rather interested to see where this goes, but it's a bit hard to follow before the Equestria part.
With regards to the first person perspective in the opening, my idea was that Pinkie pie was Schizophrenic, and my only media examples of schizophrenia comes mostly from Naruto fanfiction, televsion, and Deadpool. Which is probably closer to dissociative identity disorder. I understand there are about five to seven different varieties of schizophrenia and that it could be mixed or masked with other disorders, but my primary interest in psychology is learning conflict management, crisis intervention, and public relationship strategies more than the assessment of failed coping mechanisms. That is to say, Although I have read "The Odd Brain" in addition to several books on Transactional Analysis, I'm more interested in psychology for game design, identifying or heading off problems before they become crisis fires, and play therapy than counseling or triage.
The story is set in three timelines here. The nanban mirror makes for a more flexible timeline, but the chronotope will mostly be set in two timelines throughout. The start of the Ranma altered universe and the start of the 'Friendship is Magic altered universe are introduced in the first chapter. Mu'tsu getting cursed was used as a prologue because I didn't know how long it would take to get there and I wanted to present everyone's curses as quickly as possible. Describing Ranma's curses would take a little more time, since he seems to attract curses and other character disadvantages like a magnet, but as the main character I figured most of the story would centered around him. Ironically enough, I was taught first person perspective was a show of narrative failure, but there are a lot of noir melodramas told in this way and if Mu'tsu is the main villain of the story, or a pale shadow of Ranma. And, with Sparklebum as Ranma's familiar, then I see no reason the two antagonists shouldn't see things with a more direct if not distorted perspective. By presenting the story within the context of a game, the strategist first needs a tank and a familiar to build a proper party balance. Ryoga is more often than not the 'barbarian' tank and the familiar is almost always an assassin. Even within MLP:FIM it could be argued Rainbow Dash is a Tank, and Spike is Twilight Sparkle's familiar. Plus, there are several stories within tv series and manga where Ranma's girl-type and his physical shadow posses, trick, or get the better of him.
With regards to Ranma's age while in Equestria, Ranma's English teacher Miss Hinako was another student of his father's grandmaster Happosai. Both Happosai and Hinako Ninomiya are life's bane or energy vampires. Unless they feed off of mana, chi, killer intent, battle aura, chakra, or whatever you consider the yang life energy of another living creature Happosai would petrify into stone and Hinako would revert back to a childlike state. Ranma has high levels of Ying energy as such his reflection is Yang. I figured Ranma learning a grandmaster technique from his school of martial arts, more effective and less lethal than the shooting star cloth technique or trapping Sparklebum in a pocket mirror like a Pokemon, would be a more reasonable solution than eliminating the curse entirely.
Yes, Bon bon, Pinkie Pie, and Mu'Tsu are all in the local jail. However, Ranma is temporarily fused with the mirror spirit while she does something at the local schoolhouse, before the Summer Sun Celebration. Twilight hasn't arrived yet, and I doubt Ranma will be replacing Pinkie Pie as the element of laughter. I'm surprised you weren't confused by the Sentaro Daimonji engagement. Given the choice between marrying a macaque monkey or a horse against my will, I'd probably run away from home and never look back. Then again, to be fair, I remembered reading a japanese fable about a girl who fell in love with and married a horse that ended with them living among the stars. So, I figured it would at least be plausible, and Mu'tsu constantly mistaking statues for women was ridiculous. The point of the teahouse storyline was about Sentaro having the right to choose who he married, and choosing Ranma as his champion and bride was an act of desperation.