This story is a sequel to The Prisoner of Zebra
It was supposed to be a routine visit to Ponyville-- as if there's anything such as 'routine' for Lieutenant Flash Sentry (HERO OF EQUESTRIA). But, as always, things soon take a turn for the worse as Sentry finds himself facing stunning news-- as well as yet another ridiculously dangerous mission in a strange and exotic land. Only this time, how will he fare without the help of Special Agent Golden Harvest?
Volume 6 of the Flash Sentry Papers.
Chapters (9)
duh duh duuuuuuh...
Woo-hoo!
A Golden Harvest presentation!
Where is the footnote indicated by the star in the letter to Flash at the beginning of the chapter?
9028128
Oops! Thanks for catching that. Went ahead and added it in. I was on the fence on whether or not I wanted to include it due to formatting, but hey, more footnotes is always good, right?
Right. Clearly this is a letter from an enemy who's managed to somehow subdue and capture Golden Harvest and is trying to keep Flash away. Alternately she's up to something REALLY dangerous and needs him away from it. No way this is legit.
Right?
I have the feeling that Flash is going to do something very stupid, very regretable, and very, very heroic.
Of course, I repeat myself.
Eagerly looking forward to seeing where you go with this.
And?
Naturally.
Nope.
Let's see you bullshit your way out of this one, you're gonna have to roll a Natural fucking 20.
Holy shit you DID roll a Nat 20.
Good. Because Ocellus is precious, and sweet and you are not to harm her.
OK? This is weird.
So, average Tuesday for you.
Not even Flash is, in his rare optimistic moments, naive enough to believe the letter is anything but a ploy not by Carrot, but by an enemy. After all there's simply no way he'd never get involved with world shaking shenanigans again, abd Carrot is his eternal handler in those.
But then again, he might see it as a "go wild for a week or so, I'm busy doing things not involving you. For once."
Looks like you accidentally a word or two.
Political hostages make too much damn sense if you view the show as Hasbro propaganda, which it is. And ever since reading the Agent of SMILE book I just treat this and that as real canon
Of course he is;
Alcoholism notwithstanding.
So we know they're going to end up back together somehow...
But how?
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It better not be, or I'm flipping a table.
That's not glimmer!
This chapter becomes a lot more fun when you just imagine a drunk guy playing with his twilight's Castle playset
Oh dear.
You aren't wrong.
As per usual.
Methinks Tempest Shadow.
No notes from Twilight-from-the-future?
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Hey now, I'd appreciate it if you didn't give away my secret writing techniques.
Ah. And so we have our hook. Though I can't say I fully follow Twilight's logic regarding Neighsay. Seems to me Tempest's current moral state has no bearing on whether he'd pounce on the School of Friendship. Still, looking forward to more.
Juicy! Specially when the one in question could most certainly wipe the floor with sentry. Or maybe even Carrot
How convenient, a character outside of the show's focus. This gun' be good.
Ooh! Tempestpop Berryshadow, huh? This should be fun.
Man I hope this ends in a fight between Carrot Top and Fizzlepop.
9033581 Is there anything in life that doesn't become funnier if you imagine a drunken man playing with a Twilight Castle Playset?
9034476 "Oh Tumbleweed!" I cry.
"Seeing as how you are the best at writing ponies, how do you plan to write Tempest Shadow?"
Well now. Best Pony just provided quite the intriguing wrinkle. It looks like there'll be quite a bit of butting heads in Cowloon, and given the jagged remains of Tempest's horn, that's even more dangerous than usual.
Also, I can't help but wonder if Twilight subconsciously recognizes the bit of narrativium that marks Flash as a hapless protagonist. Enough exposure to Pinkie Pie is bound to have some effects.
Looking forward to more, especially since we have something resembling context for the cover image.
(Oh, and bit of a hiccup: Twilight puts saddlebags on Flash's back twice.)
Carrot Top's letter was obviously one of those "I'm in a lot of trouble and want you to stay way so you don't get hurt" kind of letters. But the sad fact is that Flash would never write such a letter or think it made sense to do so, thus that thought simply doesn't occur to him.
Nooooo! Twilight, you fool! Don't put it on the bottom, it'll get squashed!
So we're starting to get clues. There's five venoms who are presumably friendly in some way, you know what else there's five of? Five letters in Flash, Carrot, Ditzy and Cutie, but that's four, like the letter! This mystery is coming right along folks.
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Carrot has six letters, dude.
Wow. What is it about Ditzy/Derpy that makes her interactions so heartwarming/wrenching?
9041624
It's what makes her the most beloved pony in the fandom.
9041607
D'oh! Back to the drawing board... but wait! Goldy has 5 letters and that is presumably Carrot Top's nickname (unless it's Goldie). In any case it was probably Chrysalis' fault or should we say Chrys? Alright, that's five, turn off the light guys we got this one in the bag.
I do not blame you.
That's fair.
That is also fair.
Oh you poor optimistic stallion.
Oh.
Oh NOW what?
He has a point, you know.
Poor guy...
How did Cutie Cue end up in a regular prison? Carrot Top had to have told her superiors that Cutie was a fully trained assassin even better than her in a fight. One of her superiors is Lu... ahem L. Surely she can pull some strings to get somepony that dangerous locked up somewhere that can actually handle Cutie rather than stand by and wait for ordinary prison guards to get killed?
Reference to Sherlock Holmes, Five Orange Pips? Fits with the story title, strange letters etc.
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It's also:
A reference to an old martial arts film that I've never seen.
Mike
9043305
You should remedy this! Oldschool Shaw Bros. movies are a delight, particularly the work of Chang Cheh. Netflix used to have a bunch of them for streaming, but then they took them down for some inexplicable reason.
This much reversal made me lose it
Daaaaaaaaaaamn! Now that is one hell of a cliffhanger. Ooh, it must be one of the venoms!
Ah, I get it now. Carrot Top is one of the five venoms. As is Tempest Shadow and, I'll wager, Cutie Cue. (I've never seen the movie, so apologies if that was supposed to be obvious from the start).
Always good.
True.
Naturally.
Wonder what she's up to?
No doubt.
Smart.
His life is just that insane.
Beg pardon?
Flash is cursed to live in interesting times. Truly, he is Murphy's chewtoy. Still, I have to wonder how Tempest would've reacted if he'd been able to truthfully and intelligibly answer her question. (Also, brilliant interrogation technique, Fizzlepop. Nothing gets answers out of a pony quite like a concussion.)
I feel like this is missing some words somewhere, because I'm not processing it as is.
In any case, looking forward to more.
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I know you meant the MLP movie, but this talk of film and venoms has me thinking of Kill Bill. I'm not saying there's a mother out on a quest for vengeance, but we do seem to be dealing with a close-knit band of assassins.
Or I'm completely off the mark.
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No, I meant this one: Five Deadly Venoms. Which, I assume, was the inspiration for this tale we're reading.
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Oh. Huh. Well, that puts an entirely different spin on things, doesn't it?
That last line hit me as hard as Tempest Shadow hit Flash
You can basically play this sound anywhere and it works
Who?
Oh, that's good.
Of course.
That, isn't good.
Aren't martial arts supposed to be for self defense.
He has a point, his luck is a hell of a thing.
Quite.
Oh dear.
Smart stallion.
You're probably right.
Fair.
Aye, there's the catch.
So that's how Cutie Cue became a super assassin. Makes me realize that I never asked the same about Carrot. You'd think these five disciples are the venoms but they aren't very friendly.
Here's my guess (for once a real one). Through a bunch of hilariously dangerous shenanigans and misunderstandings they'll cooperate with Tempest Shadow to try and take the book. Cutie Cue and Silk whatever agree to cooperate but betray each other. Orange Sky keeps the book in the end, Tempest will keep on traveling, Carrot is in the military, the other two are evil. The four rectangles arranged in a spiral are the five venoms, the circle in the center being the fifth and secret one or something. The five friendly venoms is an ultimate technique within the school.
Ah. Well then. They may want to rethink trusting Tempest. At the very least, mentioning Twilight to her might help... in theory.
In any case, now that Master Zhi has been put to rest, things have officially gotten very complicated. Looking forward to seeing the opening volleys.