Good communication between friends is important. Otherwise, accidents can happen. Such as an unlucky chimera being sent to the human world by a clueless Star Swirl, and then winding up in prison for trying to eat Sweetie Belle. Thankfully, there are plenty of folks with experience fixing this sort of thing. Unfortunately, none of those people are available, but all is not lost. Sometimes, all a man/pony-eating monstrosity needs to turn things around is a bit of guidance from other man/pony-eating monstrosities.
Written for FanOfMostEverything's Villain Exchange Program contest against my own better judgement.
Chapters (1)
Huh. That was an interesting idea. Are the chimera sisters still fused together or did they get cut apart at some point?
Well, good to know I'll have at least one entrant...
They charged each head with a different crime.
It's funny. The contest prompt evolved from a story idea that was basically this; Twilight and Sunset comparing notes on their respective villains to preemptively deal with any equally troublesome analogues.
Private investigator Adagio? I don't think I've ever seen that before. Fascinating choice.
Oh goodness, that postcard may have taken days to get to Ponyville.
What. Sonata's I can buy but... wow.
The Sparkle family inability to communicate with one another transcends dimensions. Though to be fair, Shining may just be instinctually protecting his sanity from That Which Man Was Not Meant to Know. Which tends to be forty to fifty percent of Twilight's life on average.
In all, this was a lovely morsel of madness. Thank you for it, and best of luck in the judging. (And no, if you end up being the only entry, you won't win all three prizes.
)
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Really? Huh. I can see why you scrapped it; it's a nice idea, but what would the actual plot be?
Anyway, glad you enjoyed this one. Basically all of my followers are habitual lurkers, so sometimes it feels like you're the only one actually reading.
Nice!
The only weird bit was them not having names, 'cause I thought they canonically did, but okay.
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Instead of FOME's idea that the Chimera had days to attack, they could've tasted several of the officers?
...
Not sure how valid the Sex tag is, but whatever.
I'll be honest, all through the end when the Sirens loved the meat so much more than expected? I kept expecting it to go Sweeny Todd and the lot of them doing a collective but disturbingly nonchalant 'oops'
Glad I was mistaken.
I admit I gigglesnorted plenty with Starswirl's 'no need to thank me line'
But this was a fun premise. A trio of sisters meeting that other trio!
Kudos for using an interesting character in the form of the manticore and her very unique appearance in the EqG land. (Our technicolor People in pedestra must be very understanding of less than norm appearances if a three headed person could become a star chef)
Perhaps room for a funny montage of the Sirens trying to get her a job before stumbling on the chef thing. If you ever felt like expanding on the prompt. Perhaps they hide her in the back at first before introducing. Or have her talk on the phone to restaurant owners who think they are getting a deal paying such a cheap salary for 3 people only to find out the truth in person. Fun potential there
One thing I noticed though, is towards the end I think you might have mixed up some of the sisters:
Aria, being polite? After earlier:
The three earlier lines don't quite sound like they belong to them and kinda would work better if you swapped Sonata and Aria.
I know Aria said she felt like she could work through people problems by doing the George Costanza, but some indication she was doing that if you did intend those lines to be who they were for.
Anyway. A lovely story and entry thanks for writing :)
This was an interesting mixed bag for me. I loved the idea. The chimaera was an inspired choice. The opening with Star Swirl was pitched perfectly, and the pickup in the human world followed suit. And then you introduced Adagio as a PI!
So it was all going really well for me, but then came the actual conversation between the two trios. And after so much expectation during the setup, I felt that kind of fell flat? It was mostly just the sirens explaining how this world works, and I didn't think there was nearly enough joking or absurdity for that bit to stand up alongside the rest of the story. I'm not sure Shining Armor needed to be there; I think that could just as easily have been a nameless, faceless OC desk sergeant with minimal screentime and the contribution would have been about the same (but without getting in the way as a starring, tagged character). Shining's role made it feel more like this story was one of a series of adventures, and he just happened to have a smaller role in this chapter of the larger tale - which is all very well, and great for giving a sense of a bigger universe, but also rather disappointing that there are no other adventures to be seen.
The ending, too, felt like it was missing something, like a punchline to the whole thing that never arrived? Don't get me wrong, I liked the idea of them staying in touch, and Chimaera Cooking was a great image and career choice for them. But after all the talk of how good the steak was there, I was just waiting for the twist that it was actually secretly horse meat, and that was why the former Equestrians so loved it and the chimaera was so eager to serve it.
So I'm not quite sure how I feel about this one overall - I would certainly say I thought the first half was stronger than the second. And I agree about Aria as a marriage counselor, that's a lovely idea that she could just flip the switch and be great at bringing people together. A private investigator really suits Adagio, too, that someone so good at reading others would be able to rifle through their secrets and discover the truth. The back and forth with Twilight and Sunset, as well, fitted nicely, though it might have been good to tie that in a bit more at the end. And that cover art? Genius!
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These are fair critiques, and I thank you for taking the time to let me know your thoughts.
I am amazed Sweetie that you can talk coherently through that level of agony.
He does that.
You have no Idea who this is do you?
Okay so Twilight wants to reform a none pony monster who's biology and psychology are fundamentally opposed to free reign in pony society so does she just not care about the earth or is this an alternate universe?
I think you mean how.
This was a fun little slice of life to read and enjoy. You should be warned though between the tags and the chapter title that someone will probably come to expect a lot more Siren shenanigans out of your story then what it actually delivers. Especially with the comedy tag.