You Are Number Three
Doing cute things was Dinky’s destiny.
She could be cute sleeping, learning, eating, hopping up and down, chasing butterflies, and doing many other things a filly her age would do. She didn’t have a cutie mark, but she suspected that it was actually a blank space – just because blank flanks were cuter than older ponies.
On this particular day, Dinky awoke from her adorable slumber and slid down the bannister in the most cute way possible. Well, except of the last part when she fell to the floor, but even then she just bounced off the rug and landed on all four like a kitten. She then trotted to the kitchen to get some breakfast. Naturally, in as cute way as possible.
“Hello, Dinky,” a grey pegasus colt with blonde mane said when she entered the kitchen, prancing around. He was sitting at the table, sipping orange juice and staring at a bowl of cornflakes without much enthusiasm.
“He–” Dinky’s hoof froze halfway to the fridge door. She turned to the colt. “Wait, who are you?”
“What?” The colt nearly choked on his juice. “I’m your brother, Crackle Pop.”
“Wait, I have a brother?” Dinky asked, trotting to the colt and looking into his eyes.
“All your life,” Crackle Pop replied. “Don’t you remember?”
“Did I have a brother for all my life yesterday?” Dinky raised her eyebrows. “I’m pretty sure I didn’t.”
“Dunno, I was always here.” Crackle Pop took a bite of his cornflakes. “Strange that you’ve never noticed. I mean, you were always a bit busy doing that weird stuff, but we played together a few times, I’m sure.”
Dinky’s cheeks turned red. “What weird stuff?”
Crackle Pop shrugged. “Dancing, prancing, glancing, freelancing, stuff like that. You somehow missed me and mom at the Applewood Derby last week.”
“Umm… maybe?” Dinky shrugged. Her stomach grumbled, reminding her why she was there in the first place. She opened the fridge and grabbed milk from it. She levitated it, almost spilling some on the floor, and poured it into another bowl of cereal. After a moment of hesitation, she sat at the table next to Crackle Pop.
“So, you’re my brother,” Dinky said after a moment of silence.
“Thinking is not your forte,” Crackle muttered with a shrug.
“I’ve never thought I had a brother,” Dinky replied. “That’s a new experience for me.”
Crackle sighed and focused on cornflakes. Dinky puffed her cheeks, seeing this lack of attention, but at the same moment her mom walked into the kitchen.
“Hello, muffins,” Derpy said, patting the manes of her kids. “How are you today?”
“Mom, did I always have a brother?” Dinky asked.
“Of course not, Muffin,” Derpy replied, putting a bag of groceries on the counter.
Dinky turned to Crackle Pop. “See? I knew it.”
“He’s a year younger,” Derpy said.
“Aww…” Dinky furrowed her eyebrows. “But there’s just two of us, right?”
Derpy stopped in her tracks and looked at her daughter. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked. “Last time I checked, I had two children.”
Dinky nodded and went back to her cereal. The rest of her breakfast was quite uneventful; Crackle Pop eventually went to his room, probably to do some colt things. Dinky didn’t know – she still felt just yesterday she was the only foal in the house.
She levitated the empty bowl to a kitchen sink, managing not to drop it on the way. Then she hopped off her chair and went to the living room. The good side of vacation; she had plenty of time to read and there was no better place to do that than the big couch standing in the middle of the room.
Dinky sat on the couch and levitated a book from the shelf. Unfortunately, she lost her grip and the book fell on the carpet somewhere halfway through. Groaning, Dinky got off the couch and trotted to the book.
“Ba!”
Dinky’s ears perked up, trying to find the source of the noise. It definitely sounded like a foal, and that reminded her of one movie her mom didn’t let her watch, but she went to the cinema anyway, after Rumble somehow convinced Lyra, who was working there at the time, that they were sixteen. It was a bad idea. Not only she was now scared of foals; Rumble kept avoiding her since she had to drag him from under his chair.
Slowly, Dinky turned back to see a foal on the couch. It looked more or less like her mom, with grey coat and blonde hair, except it was a unicorn, just like Dinky. It couldn’t be more than two years old; currently it was trying to eat the foam poking out of the hole in the couch’s upholstery.
“No, don’t eat that!” Dinky exclaimed, using her magic to catch the little filly. She didn’t risk levitating it; she just grabbed the filly’s diaper with her magic and dragged her away from the foam.
“Gah!” The filly looked at her, too surprised to cry. “Hi, thith!”
“What?” Dinky approached the filly and looked at her like Daring Do was looking at some dangerous trap in the middle of an ancient temple. “Did you just call me your sister?”
“Yeth.” A smile adorned the filly’s face. “You awwight?”
“Yes, I’m aww–” It took Dinky two years of speech therapy to learn to pronounce her r’s correctly and she didn’t want to squander it all because of some small kid. “Alright.” She gritted her teeth. “So, you’re my sister. What’s your name?”
“Dipthy.”
“Dipthy?” Dinky asked.
“No, Dipthy.”
Dinky nodded. “Ah, Dipsy!”
“Yeth, Dipthy,” Dipsy replied.
“I swear you weren’t here yesterday, Dipsy,” Dinky muttered, still eyeing the filly.
“No,” Dipsy said. “Couch tall!”
Dinky remembered her own attempts to first climb on the couch. It required at least two base camps in perfect weather conditions, but that was before she grew up.
“Okay,” Dinky muttered. “So, who put you on the couch in the first place?”
“Mommy.”
“And why did she leave you here?” Dinky asked.
It took Dipsy a while to figure out the answer. Mainly because she tried to eat the foam again. “She’s wowking. She thaid, ‘thtay with Cwackle.’”
“Working, yeah.” Dinky sighed. “Good that my siblings at least know about each other.” She stood up and walked to the door of the living room. “Crackle!”
“What?” Crackle Pop shouted from his room.
“Weren’t you supposed to take care of Dipsy or something?”
“You do that much better!” Crackle Pop replied.
Dinky frowned. “I do?”
“Yes.” Crackle flew downstairs and landed next to Dinky. “When I was taking care of her, she figured out that she can turn the lights on and off with her magic since she can’t reach the switch.” He pointed at the wall. There were several burn marks around the light switch, as well as a big hole in the wall above it. Dinky could swear they weren’t there yesterday.
“Really?” Dinky asked. “I don’t remember that.”
“Weird,” Crackle replied. “When you saw her, you said a bad word and mom nearly fainted.”
Dinky sighed. “Maybe. But why it’s me who has to take care of her? She could’ve started figuring her magic out when I was with her.”
Crackle Pop looked at her unsurely, then shook his head. “But you can at least contain her. Last time she got a magic outburst, I got a scar. I’d show it to you, but it’s not in a place I usually show to the world.”
Dinky barely paid attention to him, turning back to look at Dipsy. Her little sister was silent for too long, which, as far as Dinky knew, could mean she was up to something. She was right; Dipsy was chewing the couch’s stuffing as if it was food from the most elegant restaurant in Equestria.
“What is wrong with you?” Dinky muttered, trying to get the stuffing out of her sister’s mouth. She managed to levitate most of it out, much to Dipsy’s displeasure. After she was done, she dropped on the couch next to the filly and groaned.
“Yeah,” Crackle Pop said. “Imagine me trying to do that with my wings.”
“Wait!” Dinky exclaimed. “Mom said she had two kids last time she checked!”
“When did she say that?” Crackle Pop asked, raising his eyebrows and eyeing Dinky.
Dinky smacked her hoof against her forehead. “When we were eating breakfast, just a few minutes ago! Don’t say you don’t remember that!”
Crackle Pop thought for a while. “Actually, she said you have two siblings. That was because you somehow forgot that Dipsy and I existed.”
“That’s because you didn’t exist just yesterday,” Dinky muttered, lowering her head. “I’d remember that my brother keeps sitting in his room, or that my sister makes holes in the walls.”
“Well, you just proved you remember that,” Crackle Pop said. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t just say that.”
“It’s because that’s something anyone with half a brain would figure out!” Dinky groaned. “And you’ve just told me about the walls.”
“Well, I’m trying to help!” Crackle’s wings perked up. “But if you don’t need it, I’ll go upstairs!” He took off and flew away.
Dinky dropped on the couch next to Dipsy and sighed. “I shouldn’t have said that, should I?”
“Nope,” Dipsy replied. “Cwayons?”
“I’ll get you crayons, if you don’t eat them.” Dinky looked around and saw some crayons and paper on the shelf. “Or stuff them up your nose, or draw on the wall, or–” She stopped, realising that giving the filly ideas would not be wise. Instead, she just levitated the crayons and put them on the floor next to a piece of paper. Then she helped Dipsy get off the couch and led her to the crayons.
“There you go,” Dinky said, watching as her new sister started doodling something on the piece of paper. She tilted her head. “That’s Crackle, right?”
“No,” Dipsy replied. “That’s Chiwpy.”
“And who’s Chirpy?” Dinky asked, sighing.
“Milk filly.”
“What now?” Dinky muttered. “Wait here for a minute, I need to check something.”
She trotted to the kitchen and opened the fridge. She levitated a milk carton from it and took a look at the face printed on it. The pegasus filly looked a bit like Crackle Pop; according to the label, her name was Chirpy Hooves and she was slightly older than Dinky.
Dinky took a deep breath. “Okay,” she told herself. “She’s missing and my little sister is drawing her. That doesn’t mean anything. She may not even be from here. That’s like totally normal. Nothing to worry a– Gah!” She screamed when someone knocked at the kitchen’s window.
Dinky put the milk carton down and looked at the window. On the other side of it, there was the exact same grey pegasus filly Dinky just saw. She was even smiling in the same way. However, she looked like she was crawling through some bushes; there were loose twigs and leaves in her mane, and her skin was scratched in a few places.
For a moment, Dinky thought what to do. Then, for the lack of a better idea, she opened the window.
“Hello!” Chirpy burst into the kitchen. “What’s going on, sis?”
“You tell me,” Dinky muttered. “You were missing for–”
“A year and a half, yeah,” Chirpy replied. “But that was, like, totally worth it! How’s little Dipsy?”
“If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t know you existed,” Dinky replied. “Though to be honest, I didn’t know I had any siblings until today.”
“That, like, sucks, sis,” Chirpy replied, grabbing the milk and chugging it. “But I’ve got better news.” She produced a red quill from under her wing and grinned widely. “I got a broken quill!”
“A broken… quill?” Dinky muttered, her eyes widening.
“Yes!” Chirpy exclaimed. “A broken quill! When was the last time you used a quill?”
“Are you trying to sell it to me?” Dinky asked, backpedalling.
“Well, I tried to sell it to Princess Twilight, but it didn’t work out,” Chirpy replied. “But do you know how I got it?” She spun the quill around her wing. “It was a bright sunny day in Ponyville, and I was going to school, when–”
Dinky didn’t listen to her. It occurred to her that Dipsy had been quiet for a while. She was quite sure she wouldn’t do much with crayons, but one could never know. Especially since she saw Crackle Pop rushing into the kitchen.
“Come with me, quick!” Crackle exclaimed. “Dipsy levitated the couch.”
“And then, we landed on the pirates’ airship!” Chirpy said. “And it started shooting its cannons at the ninjas!”
“And that’s how you got the quill?” Dinky asked.
“No, I bought it in a small shop that wasn’t there the day before, in a town that is not on the maps,” Chirpy replied. “But that battle was, like, too awesome.”
“Ah, okay.” Dinky realised that Crackle kept poking her. “What?”
“Dipsy levitated the couch,” Crackle muttered.
“Yeah, I heard it the first ti– What?” Dinky rushed to the living room.
The first thing she saw was a layer of dust and old food bits that was usually hidden under the couch. Dipsy was sitting behind it, her horn glowing. She laughed loudly, looking at all her siblings.
Dinky stepped forward first. “No!” she exclaimed. “Drop it!”
Dipsy looked at her and laughed, levitating the couch even higher.
“I’ll give you more candies than you can eat if you drop it,” Dinky said.
“Okay!” Dipsy exclaimed and cancelled her magic.
Dinky sighed with relief. That is, until she looked up.
She probably shouldn’t have stood under the couch.
Sleeping was Dinky’s destiny.
She could sleep while riding a cart, at school, at home, under a tree, on a tree, in the shop, on the windowsill, in bed, in the loo, and in any place where a filly her age could end up. Her cutie mark was a pillow; she suspected she’d eventually become a model in Quills and Sofas ads.
Dinky opened her eyes to see that she was lying on the couch, with a pink unicorn staring at her with a worried expression. She sighed with relief; none of her rapidly appearing siblings were in sight.
“Sparkler!” Dinky exclaimed. “Please tell me at least you’re not my sister!”
“Actually, my name is Amethyst Star,” the unicorn replied. “We were worried about you.”
“Yeah, that couch hit me pretty well…”
“What couch?” Amethyst Star asked. “You just slept till noon. And actually, I remember how you wished I was your sister, missy. Remember? We took part in Sisterhooves Social together.”
“We… did?” Dinky asked. “I don’t recall that…”
“Weird,” Amethyst Star muttered. “But I always told you I was too old to be Carrot Top’s daughter.”
“Ah, sure.” Dinky yawned and sat on her bed. Suddenly, her pupils narrowed. “Wait. Carrot Top is my mom?”
“Are you sure you’re not sick?” Amethyst Star raised her eyebrows and put her hoof on Dinky’s forehead.
“No, I don’t think so,” Dinky muttered. “I need to take a walk… Or something.” She got out of her bed and trotted downstairs. To her surprise, the house looked completely different than what she remembered from yesterday. As she went outside, she saw that it was surrounded by carrot fields. The house was located on the top of the hill, and it seemed like an offspring of several big barrels.
“Okay,” Dinky muttered, trotting across the endless plains full of carrots. “You woke up to find out you have a brother and two sisters. Then a couch fell on your head and you woke up to learn that you have a completely different family. Such things happen. But what should I do now?”
“Psst!”
“What?” Dinky turned back to see her friends Ruby Pinch and Tootsie Flute hiding in the carrots. “What are you two doing here?”
“Good to see you back,” Ruby muttered. “We thought we lost you forever.”
“What do you mean?” Dinky asked, looking at her unsurely.
“You don’t remember anything?” Tootsie asked. “Not even the accident with the vortex of time and space?”
Dinky rubbed her temples. “Excuse me?”
Ruby approached her and looked deeply into her eyes. “Did you experience any temporal paradoxes? Or maybe sudden changes in the universe?”
“Well…” Dinky shrugged. “I suddenly got three siblings and then it all disappeared and I got a brand new cutie mark, as well as a new family and…” She waved her hoof at the carrot field. “This. Do you know why?”
“It keeps happening,” Tootsie said. “Most ponies are not aware of that. For example, we all were in one class in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns with Twilight Sparkle, Lyra Heartstrings, and Amethyst Star. Then I woke up and it turned out Amethyst was an adult and my foalsitter.”
Ruby nodded. “Same happened to me. I became aware of this when Scootaloo told me about the first Sonic Rainboom and I suddenly remembered that I saw this race with my own eyes.” She patted her back. “Except I was a pegasus at that time. It seems to be a thing in my case.”
“But... “ Dinky shuddered. “It’s like our lives have no continuity at all! As if someone kept putting us in various roles and change them whenever they’re bored…”
“Yeah.” Tootsie shrugged. “We don’t know how it works. You seem to be the third pony who became aware of that. We’re the first two.” She looked at Dinky, Ruby, and herself. “To think about it, we may have been the chosen ones. We even look the same, except of the colours.”
Dinky lowered her head. “But what can we do about it? I don’t want my life to keep changing like that. And I kinda liked all my new sisters…”
“Embrace it,” Ruby said. “Also, it’s not like they disappeared forever. The number of universes appears to be finite. Soon, you’ll come back to the previous one, and maybe stay there for a while.”
“That’s still strange.”
Ruby smirked. “After a while, you’ll like it…”
Fighting was Dinky’s destiny.
She could fight pirates, zombies, ninjas, aliens, fish ponies, the Great Old Ones, bullies, nerds, The Purple Watchmaker of Light, robots, cyborgs, flying pigs, pink elephants whatever a filly her age could end up meeting. Her cutie mark was a horseshoe; it was the mark she was leaving on faces of her enemies.
She jumped on the deck of the airship and looked around. Her sister Chirpy followed her, turning to see that no enemy was in sight. The pirates were apparently too busy fighting the ninjas below them.
“Are you okay, sister?” Dinky asked.
Chirpy nodded, smiling. “I got a broken quill!”
“Good for you.” Dinky chuckled, staring at the waves of enemies below them. “Good for you! And now, let’s go!”
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This is a good kind of wut.
...Continue...
7483274
I was thinking of either them messing up with every part of the continuum they find themselves in, or trying to find what's going on. Probably a bit of both.
7483272
Thanks
Of all the Dinkys, Fighting Dinky is probably the best. She might even be a match for Crystal Borf Punchilee the 24 Barbarian. ('Half Note' to her friends.)
Good story, all in all.
Background pony problems.
I wonder if Pinkie also knows.
Ah, the issues of being a background pony, though I have to say, I do love what this is parodying too (even if I'm guilty of the doing the first half of the story for my headcanon of her).
Now why can I see her battling four other Dinkies?
Seems like it's the day of great one-shots today.
Great premise, both for a stand-alone chapter and for a longer story. Did you make any plans or ideas what the reason is (aside from writers-be-lazy)?
lol, Very Stanley Parable with the narration. Loved it!
i hope Alondro sees this one.
7483272
Yes indeed.
7483383
Oh yeah. Imagine how much of a disturbance in the force Twilight Time was.
7484248
She probably doesn't suspect anything. As a main character, her life doesn't get as many retcons (aside from Pinkie Pride, when Maud appeared in the photo from her first party).
7484265
There can be only one
On a side note, there'd probably be more than four. According to the wiki, Dinky either has no cutie mark at all (most of the times), or it's a pillow, a bow (this one must be interesting), a horseshoe, and two dolphins, like Sea Swirl's cutie mark. Not to mention that at least one of them would like to be a firepony.
7484897
I have several ideas and I'll see how it turns out.
7485554 Lets not forget her as a pegasus or an earth pony (I do like the idea of Dinky having a bow for her actual cutie mark).
7485561
Oh yeah. Not to mention that, if I recall correctly, there are seven or eight fillies using her character model (Pinchy, Tootsie, and Bloo, for example).
7485582 Yup, lets also not forget the various cutie marks that Pinchy and Tootsie have alongside Dinky too.
This was beautiful.
encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTQNwZbnB8S1cNPQ_Ikjvpiyd7DzF1IRp_HW9s6YaGs8WvPQ0bmeQ
I'm surprised it doesn't have a mystery tag; but this is truly an engaging reading if I ever seen one.
~Leonzilla
7485554
I was referring to her propensity for breaking the fourth wall. While they rarely happen to her specifically, I'm thinking she'd be aware whenever a retcon happened. How else would she keep track of everypony's birthdays?
Speaking of which, I'd probably call that colt from that kart episode is Derpy's little brother, but ah well.
Wherein a filly finds herself adrift in probability space, moving from worldline to worldine,
hoping each time that her next leap will be the leap home.Well, maybe not that last part. She seems to have embraced the insanity. Good to see Best Filly roll with the punches. It's not like she can do anything about it. Not until she finds that universe where her special talent is countermagic, anyway.
Very fun tribute to how slippery causality and history can get for background ponies, especially background foals. Dinky's probably enrolled in Cheerilee's class no more than half the time. Thank you for it.
7485154 I did not see this at all.
Of course I have seen it.
I may or may not have read this.
THE NEIGHCRONOMICON WILL CONSUME YOUR SOULS!!
*All the Alondros of various universes are converging! THE END IS NEIGH!!*
This is both hilarious and sadly true...
7483272 I saw some fic with the random tag : It's not readable but this kind of fic need a group THIS F**KING INSTANT!!!
7485591
I recall flower pot, hourglass, and horseshoe (another one) for Tootsie. As for Pinchy... gems, horseshoe (it's a horseshoe conspiracy, I guess), golden horseshoe (she was the first one to realise something was wrong?), four-leaf clover (she's a lucky kid), a cupcake (as pictured here), or nothing at all (usually). Also, when the CMC's lack of cutie marks was relevant (Call of the Cutie), everyone in their class had a cutie mark. Most of them were revoked rather quickly (Snips, Snails, Featherweight, DIamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, and Twist are the only ones whose cutie marks seem permanent. Guess it has something to do with the amount of lines). Pinchy also changes race most often, including being an earth pony in Cloudsdale, somehow).
On a side note, Pinchy is seen with Button Mash more and more often, while Tootsie Flute sometimes finds herself in rather interesting places:
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/4/5/865913__safe_screencap_filly_earth+pony_spoiler-colon-s05e01_background+pony_the+cutie+map+-dash-+part+1_tootsie+flute_the+cutie+map_cutie+markless.png
Just look at that face. She knows something went very wrong.
7485617
I considered it, but didn't put it since the mystery is not solved eventually (yet).
7485679
Who said she's not a part of it?
7485873
She's too busy saving the world. Or one day she learns she's now the member of Babs Seed's CMC Manehattan Branch.
7486289
Well, I came up with a downer ending (this line is a trace of it), but I decided against it since I didn't want to torture Dinky (that's why I didn't enjoy Background Pony, despite shortskirtsandexplosions being a great writer; he just went overboard with Lyra).
7486326 I only remember Tootsie having a flower and not a flowerpot for her cutie mark.
As for being in cloudsdale as an earth pony, probably had a cloudwalking spell casted on her by her unicorn self (why else is she called Cloudwalker as an earth pony while her pegasus self is named Cupid?)
She does, I do wonder if Lyra rescued her daughter from there (and yes, I still see Lyra as Tootsie's mother, because hey, its cute).
7486335 "Background Pony" made a mistake in that everything hindrance Lyra encountered made no sense with relation to the world when taken as items created independently of her. The universe itself seemed constructed for no other purpose than to screw over Lyra and deprive her of any possible chance of remedying her situation. The elegies, the spells, the way the memory erasures worked... none of it existed for a single plausible purpose when you take Lyra out of the equation, especially when you consider what the creator mare was trying to accomplish with all these outrageously overcomplicated constructs; that being her not-quite-dead foal... (how the hell does an astral being have stillbirth anyway and not realize it wayyyyy ahead of time, given that one of its primary powers is sensing and creating life?)... is not forgotten. The very nature of the spells erasing every shred of memory... the Sisters exploding when they remember anything about their undead Sister... Discord destroying the universe out of love for the ghoul... and then the rotten cherry on top: the 10th Elegy. Lyra simply believes the undead alicorn. She takes at face value the word of something utterly merciless and completely psychologically unbalanced. It would seem to me that the Elegies would function to PRESERVE memory, given their creation. Or else they would be a failsafe to unmake whatever abomination resulted from an undead god trying to cling to existence... in which case the Undead Alicorn would have every reason to lie to Lyra!
But plot points aside, the simple fact is that these gods somehow managed to always create things with future characters seemingly in mind. There is no reason for them to put in place things the way they did unless the whole plan was to screw over mortals. Taken from the perspective of their motivations and drives... it really doesn't work.
It's a trope that used to be called 'The Unverse Really IS Against You!'. Not sure what it's called now, but it's a trope in which every situation appears constructed to ensure that the protagonist will fail utterly, even when it involves characters and settings that should not be aware the protagonist exists when they go about their business.
It seems to be similar to 'Deus Angst Machina', which is an extreme form of the 'Butt Monkey'. From the page: "This is a step beyond the coincidences that most stories tend towards to build up drama, as the character seems to have provoked some sadistic god who is now dedicated to making his life as miserable (and angst-filled) as possible. Sure, anyone would be miserable in his situation, but when said situation is less likely than being struck by lightning, it can seem to be outright ludicrous. If used too much, it can cause Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy."
May also be this: " If, at the end of this long chain of unlikely tragedies, The Protagonist dies without accomplishing anything then you have Shoot the Shaggy Dog. "
Or this: "An immutable Crapsack World has agony Inherent in the System, both physically and metaphysically, and cannot be saved or made a better place. Trying to break The Corruption will instead always result in breaking every bone in your body and it winning, and any positive changes that you try to make will ultimately be torn down and revealed to be All for Nothing—or, even worse, they will only succeed in making things even worse for you and the people that you were trying to help, and/or even accomplish whatever the villains wanted in the first place. "
This all fits BP to a tee...
7486363
Well, funny thing about Ruby in Cloudsdale. That's how her scene looks like in The Cutie Mark Chronicles:
vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/7/77/Earth_pony_on_a_cloud_S1E23.png/revision/latest?cb=20130207003910
The same shot is reused in part 2 of The Cutie Remark:
Or she just had a Red Bull.
vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/6/67/Ruby_Pinch_watching_the_race_S5E25.png/revision/latest?cb=20151201174213
Even her retcons get retcons
Also, Lyra may have rescued her from there, but how did Tootsie end up in the village in the first place? (I guess the story started with, "hey, how about running away from school?")
7486391
May be Malevolent Architecture up to eleven, when not only the architecture is malevolent, but everything is. Diabolus ex machina, maybe too, with a shade of God is Evil. And on a side note, Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy is the reason I didn't finish Background Pony, bailed out of Fallout: Equestria: Project Horizon after the first book and some spoilers regarding the rest (the original was fine. Project Horizon turned into a monstrosity), and, outside of fics, had a hard time finishing Oriana Fallaci's Insciallah. That's probably the worst thing that can happen to a story.
Hmm, it seems that we spend too much time on TVTropes
7486419 I do remember that little mistake as well as the little fix, thought it was kind of amusing really.
That or she went there with her aunt and got caught up in the whole mess with Noi and Tornado Bolt.
7486436 I just happen to be REALLY good at searching terminology and themes.
Anyway, I finished it as there seemed to be some theme to the elegies at first... I suspected a good resolution might involve them being part of some plan the goddess put in place to allow mortals who advanced sufficiently enough in magic and wisdom to possess the knowledge of the foundation of their world and the sorrow of the goddess at the loss of one of her children... but the undead thing somehow attached its unlife to them and perverted them all in an attempt to keep itself from being remembered, as that would cause it to be unmade... and playing the 10th elegy, the Dawn, would 'bring all to light as with a new day' and thus destroy it.... or at the very least it believed that to be the case.
One could have crafted it such that the elegies were instead a heralding system the goddess put into place as a call to her if her god child somehow survived or resurrected and was found by beings in that world who'd advanced enough to understand what they were seeing. She's a goddess, after all; she should expect such possibilities. And it would make sense to construct the 'messaging system' in such a way that only those who could both handle the magical and existential strain, as well as be of a staunchly good and kindly nature would be able to complete all 10 and summon her.
There were plenty of ways to play the elegies out and not leave the last tune's effects a dangling plot thread we only had the word of a not-so-credible insane undead soul-hoarding monster to go on.
Hence why I couldn't believe Lyra just took its word, when it appeared very eager to NOT have that elegy played and its rationale was quite feeble given the mountain of evidence indicating the song shouldn't work that way.
It felt like we were all playing a 'Choose your own adventure' book and picked one of the bad ends, without the option to go back and read the REAL ending.
As someone who unwisely spent two and a half solid weeks trying to make sense of Cheerilee's class roster before eventually giving up in a fit of blood, tears, and ice cream, this fanfiction speaks to me.
OK....this was a random of my life I'll never get back...totally worth it tho...so I get this story, you're going with the whole "multiverse" thing and you actually pulled it off...not a lot of people do that...and also you impressed me friend...KUDOS
7486661 Got any leftovers I rewatched the S6 premier eps again....also my roommate made me watch G1 ponies....*shudders* FAUST IS DEAD
7485873
I like to go with the fandom mix of Amethyst being adopted, and Crackle Pop is mistaken for Derpy's son when he's in fact Derpy's much older sister.
Cute Dinky and her new siblings was nice. Sleeping Dinky and her new family was pretty nice as well. But fighting Dinky takes the cake for me.
Anyways, that was a pretty entertaining story. I loved the theory of how Ruby, Tootsie, Dinky, and possibly other background ponies are constantly traveling through different timelines and getting new roles and family in the process.
7486461
I guess it may be a matter of making things up as you write, instead of having a clear idea in mind before starting. Like, when some plot point is necessary, but the author fails to develop the whole background thing that'd make it work.
7486661
Maybe they just have lessons at different hours. Though given that there's at least 32 of them:
vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/8/8f/Students_awaiting_election_results_S5E18.png/revision/latest?cb=20151012181738
And the class has only 9 seats... No, I have no idea how that works, especially since some ponies we've seen in class before, like Archer and Sun Glimmer are not there, somehow (on a side note, remember those times where most of the cutie mark drama came from the fact that the CMC were the only blank flanks in their class?)
7487368
Thanks
7487957
Wait, Crackle Pop is Derpy's sister?
7487997
Whatever the course of events want from them. I can imagine such a dialogue going on:
Lyra: Umm, Bonnie? Don't you think something's wrong? We leave with each other for two weeks already and nothing changed since then. Not even your voice!
Bon Bon: That's simple, darling. We became the supporting cast.
7488567
No. Most seem to think little brother.
Normally I really like meta-humor, but this just really didn't work for me. Once you realize the joke, you get a small laugh, and then the rest of the fix is just so much filler. I wish I could give you a better critique than "it just didn't work for me," but I don't really know any better way to give concrete constructive feedback on how to better form a joke-fic centered on making fun of continuity errors caused by animation quirks and/or requirements.
Mechanically, you did excellently. Good grammar, no spelling errors, dialogue flowed smoothly. I just think the joke would have been better served if constructed differently.
7488567 That's why all professional writers really ram home the notion of outlining the plot from the getgo. Even if you happen to get a better idea where it should go later as you write, at least you already have an endpoint and path to take if nothing else come to mind.
7488567 Dont mention it
7492379
Oh yeah. I can keep track of many small details in my head, but writing it down makes me get stuck less.
*sniff, sniff* Is that... I smell something... *sniff* I think it's... Yep. It's Potential alright
I'm glad I decided to finally read this. It was sitting on my shelf for a while. I was not expecting it to go the way it does.
Nice surprise. 
I have reviewed this here.
7487997
- MLP: FiM
- Slice of Life
Pipsqueak and Dinky have the greatest day ever!There is a sequel, but IMO it is not as good