Shopping Spree Day

by Lets Do This

The Complete Set

They finished up at Joe's Donut Shop for a late afternoon snack of tea and donuts, and spread out their haul on the table to admire:
- Fluttershy's boards and nails,
- Rainbow Dash's signed first edition,
- Applejack's massage stone,
- Pinkie's sack of party goods,
- Twilight's picture frame, confetti, paint box, cape, and hoof trap,
- Derpy's small wooden house,
- Luna's bottle of ivory-white bubble bath soap,
- Celestia's "Elements of Harmony" playset,
plus an "Eat at Joe's" coffee mug that Rarity had purchased, just for completeness' sake.

There was a half-hearted attempt at a vote, but most of them were simply pleased by the sheer variety. Fluttershy meekly suggested a Traders Exchange, where anyone not happy with what they had could trade with someone else. But this only made each of them want the things they'd found all the more.

"Well, Twilight?" Celestia asked, raising her voice a little to be heard over Luna chasing the last of her milkshake with a straw. "Was your friendship research successful?"

"I think it was, your Majesty!" she said. "I learned that sometimes the best way to play by the rules is by making the rules fit the players. And by taking advantage of mistakes you make to find new ways to play!"

Derpy blinked as she looked around the table. "That was a fun game! Can we play it again tomorrow?"

They all laughed at that. And secretly wished that they could.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Unbeknownst to them, the upper-crust ponies that Pinkie Pie had been talking to spread the word about the game. And since it appeared to have the Royal imprimatur, of not just one but both Princesses, it rapidly became the fashionable thing to do. It was spoken of with reverence and an air of knowing sophistication by its aficianados. Soon enough, it was assigned its own day on the social calendar, and every year the celebration became more and more elaborate, with celebrities doing the drawings, and stores readying sales and making sure they had smaller items in stock so they would not be disqualified from selection.

And that, in the end, is how the Canterlot holiday known as "Shopping Spree Day" came to be celebrated.

But to the ponies in Ponyville, all that is just ridiculous. They laugh at the naiveté of the elite, and get on with their day-to-day living.

Because they know it all really started with a pony.

And a book.

The End

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, its characters and indicia are the property of Hasbro.
No infringement is intended. This story is a work of fan fiction, written by fans for fans of the series.

Cover image based on the following, generously made available by BonesWolbach at DeviantArt:
https://www.deviantart.com/boneswolbach/art/Ponyville-Market-525702394

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

But, all the stories you've written so far seem light-hearted!

[Lets Do This]

9042105
Thanks! My mental justification for italicizing Pinkie's lines as a way of visually suggesting her machine-gun speaking style, is that where other ponies emphasize a few words, Pinkie just democratically emphasizes all of them!

[Lets Do This]

9042114
I just let myself go on that one. You didn't really think you were going to get out of a bookstore in this story without a paragraph like that, did you? (BTW, did you also notice what I did with Rainbow in the next paragraph? )

[Lets Do This]

9042144

The problem is that even I (a language nerd, as I mentioned) had to look up the word "picayune", so I feel like AJ probably wouldn't know it.

Wayall, sugarcube, I let Applejack write that sentence herself, just like she did all the rest, and that's what she came up with! Cain't argue with that! Horse's mouth, and all!

[Lets Do This]

9042154

I hope I didn't spam you too much by commenting on almost every chapter!

Not a bit! I had a blast writing it, and I'm glad for the detailed feedback. It's wonderful hearing what aspects of it work well for other readers.

[Lets Do This]

9042254
Maybe... but take a look at the section she's in, what she's doing, and how she feels about it.

[Super Trampoline]

I thought this said shooting spree at first

[Mystic Sunrise]

Why would we need a Mane 10 tag? Outside the Mane 7, Spike and the princesses, no one else deserves to save the world.

Hasbro had made that abundantly clear. Except for the upcoming season finale, but that is a blatent ripoff of earlier ideas.

[Scholarly-Cimmerian]

This was a fun read, from start to finish. Just a really charming slice-of-life with the Mane 6, plus a few other characters, and it ended with a lesson that almost felt a bit like something from the early seasons of the show. Great work!

[Lets Do This]

9108233
Yeah, I needed some way to capture Pinkie's sugar-rush delivery in prose form, and that's what I came up with. See comment #10 below for my reasoning on this.

[Lets Do This]

9108249
Waalll, shoot -- y'all are makin' me blush now, sugarcube!

Actually, I can't take all the credit -- I lived with my grandparents in SC for a while, and I got quite used to how they talk, down South Carolina way!

[Lets Do This]

9108254
Pinkie is really easy to write for. You just set everything up, let her off the chain, and GET OUT OF THE WAY! (Hee!)

[Lets Do This]

9108262

And also, nice touch adding a bit of haiku at one point. Cool to see some other poetry types in zebra language.

Thanks -- I wanted to keep Zecora from sounding too one-note with her rhymes. The idea of having haiku be the "cultured" form of speech where she's from was just a bonus.

[Lets Do This]

9108281
Thanks! I've always tried to make Twilight's letters look and read like actual letters. And it's a great opportunity to give Spike a chance at the spotlight, given how easily he fades into the background.
Yeah, tell me about it.
Hush, Spike!

[Lets Do This]

9108482

Seeing Luna in the bath shop was a real hoot

And the really funny thing is, that scene was almost completely off-the-cuff, and entirely based on Celestia having come up with bubble bath as her alternate shop idea. You just never know what's going to resonate with readers!

[Discord The Narrator]

Didn't start reading yet and I already like it.

[Tranquil Serenity]

Luna took the initiative. She strode directly up to the salespony and glared down at her sternly.

"FEAR NOT!" she intoned in the Royal Canterlot Voice, making the windows rattle. "WE WISH ONLY TO PURCHASE..." She glanced at her sister. "... BUBBLE BATH SOAP!"

This was funny, as if that would do much to calm the poor pony's nerves! Curious that the salespony would feel so intimidated though, given that Celestia had indicated it was where she had previously bought bath soap... Perhaps Celestia usually has an underling acquire it for her.

"Ah!" said Princess Celestia, coming up beside her. "I see they have more Twilight Sparkle plushes in stock. Hoof-stitched, finest quality! I wouldn't permit anything less!"

So, the world of My Little Pony actually has My Little Pony merchandise.

That was a lovely read, very pleasant and quite enjoyable. The synopsis gives one the impression that things are going to get crazy and competitive, but the story itself was rather leisurely, about our favorite ponies just turning an otherwise ordinary activity into a fun game. It had a good sprinkle of humor throughout, and was a nicely written and engaging read. Thank you for sharing.

[Lets Do This]

9690381
Thanks so much for reading and commenting -- this is another story I got a lot out of writing, and wish more folks had taken a look at, because it's a really pleasant, low-key "spend all day hanging out with the Mane 6" kind of tale.

Curious that the salespony would feel so intimidated though, given that Celestia had indicated it was where she had previously bought bath soap... Perhaps Celestia usually has an underling acquire it for her.

The unfortunate clerk has simply never had to deal with the Princess of the Moon and Stars before. And Luna has never been suckered into buying bubble bath soap before, so they're both on edge. The difference is, Celestia compensates for uncertainty with quiet diplomacy... while Luna goes straight for volume...

So, the world of My Little Pony actually has My Little Pony merchandise.

Element-of-Harmony-Bearers merchandise, but same difference. I just thought it would be fun to have Twilight unexpectedly discover that she and her friends were being merchandised... with Celestia's apparent approval, so long as the quality is kept up...

[PonyofEntropy]

This is a wonderful story.

[Lets Do This]

10817255
Thanks much! It's great to hear you liked it!