“Timid cats, eh?” Francis asked, amusedly, as he, Spencer, and Lloyd walked through the market of Canterlot. “Are we gonna let that stand?”
“Ooh, are you talking revolution? We have to check if high treason can apply to us,” Lloyd said.
“Not revolution, just a little good-natured revenge.”
“How does one exact revenge on Princess Celestia?” Lloyd asked.
“Here’s how you do it,” Francis said, holding his hooves out to frame the mental image. “We wait until high-speed cameras have been developed. Then, we place one in her private quarters, together with an airhorn relabeled as sprinkles, and then we turn on the camera, and wait.”
Spencer and Lloyd looked up into the sky and smiled at the mental image, as Francis purchased some things from a stall for the bar.
“So here’s a question,” Lloyd said, as they waited for their change. “If, back when Celestia and Luna were fighting, and Celestia sent Nightmare Moon to… well, the moon, if she had failed, and missed, would Luna have been or have not been over the moon?” Lloyd asked, to Spencer and Francis sniggers.
“That’s no way to speak about the princesses,” the mare behind the counter said, giving them a dirty look.
“Ah don’t worry,” Lloyd said, waving away her concerns. “It’s not disrespect. We like those two. They’re fun.”
“Oh, you’ve met them in person, have you?”
“Sure. Manage to fluster Luna as well.”
The mare’s expression was giving way to curiosity. “Why, are you some sort of troubadour?”
“No, but we know a bunch of them. Kinda.”
“What’s your name?” the mare asked.
“Lloyd.”
“Spencer.”
“Francis.”
The mare gave them a scrutinizing look. “Those are some interesting names. Where are you from?”
“So far away, we don’t even know where to point,” Francis said, and pointed up into the sky. “Could be up there.”
“Anyway, we’ll see you later,” Lloyd said, as he swept the last of his purchases from the counter into his saddlebag.
“Have you noticed how ponies don’t think human names sound stupid?” Spencer asked.
“Yep. I think some of them sound scary to them,” Francis pointed out.
“Heh, what’s the scariest human name to a pony?” Spencer asked.
“Ooh, yeah, something with a bunch of hard consonants.” Lloyd put his hoof on his chin as he thought.
“Mordecai Grimshaw,” Francis suggested.
“Heh, yeah.” Lloyd added. “I bet some ponies would mishear it as Grimshawl though.”
Francis chuckled. “Grimshawl? Like a bonnet that someone’s embroidered little cartoon skulls on.”
“Heh. So what’s a pony name that sounds tough to a human?” Lloyd asked.
“They called him Machete,” Spencer quoted. “Just a tool for trimming undergrowth, and has three syllables like most pony names.”
The three friends chuckled in mock-dumb tones as they walked among the stalls, before their ears involuntarily angled themselves towards a stand, their brows furrowing in suspicion.
On a stand, surrounded by several ponies appreciatively nodding their heads to the cheerful beat, was a radio, the owner of the stand seeming very pleased with having decided to bring her music player to work today.
That wasn’t what made the former humans suspicious though, it was the song it was playing.
The techno beats and untz-es made them stumble for a bit, but sure enough, it was not a pony song.
“When I get lonely and I’ma sure I’ve got enough,
She spreads her wings and she comes in form above.
Don’t need no warning at all!
We’ve got a thing that’s called pony love!”
That was all they heard before Lloyd and Francis tackled Spencer and dragged him by the tail to get him away from the music. It was easier said than done considering the size of Spencer.
“Hnng! Let it go, Spence!” Lloyd grunted as he pushed against Spencer’s barrel, to the confusion and alarm of the ponies around them. “It’s not worth it!”
Spencer, for his part, just stood still, his hooves grinding along the ground as he slowly moved backward, a look of confusion, anger, and sadness on his face.
“How…?”
“Spence. Spence!” Francis said, standing himself in front of the big earth stallion. “Look at me. Are you angry?”
“I…” Spencer started, before his eyes widened, and he stomped a cobblestone a few inches further into the ground.
“Spence,” Francis repeated.
But Spencer just slumped, both to his friends’ worry and relief.
“What’s up?” Lloyd asked.
“... I messed up.”
“No you… wait, did you?” Francis said.
“Yeah.”
“You let Lyra in, but she didn’t hear that song,” Lloyd pointed out.
“It wasn’t her. Remember a few nights ago when we almost collapsed by the end?”
—
“Look, you can’t get in here,” Spencer said, a few nights before the event at the market.
“I can, and I will,” the haughty mare, not wearing anything on her rear, said.
“Not if I say no,” Spencer said, and decided to go into some more detail so as to not get stuck in a situation where both just insisted on yes and no. “Look, this is a private establishment, and as one of the owners, I have the same say who gets in and who doesn’t as you have in your own house.”
“Then I demand to speak to the other owners,” the mare demanded, surprising no one.
“They’re inside, and you’re not getting in there. You didn’t pass the test, so you’re not getting in.”
“I will get in there, and I will speak with them,” she said, and walked up to where she was almost pressing her face against Spencer, which would have looked more intimidating if it wasn’t for the fact that he was more than twice her mass.
“No!” Spencer said, loudly, struggling to keep himself from yelling.
“And why not!?” she demanded.
“It’s against the law!”
“Loaaaaw!” a white-coated and red-maned unicorn, dressed in what looked like a karate gi, standing next in line shouted, trying to look as manic as possible, but stopping once Spencer and the mare looked at him in confusion.
After a moment, Spencer was up to speed, and just waved him in. “I’ll grant you that one,” he said.
“He gets to go in!?” the mare shrieked.
“He passed the test,” Spencer said.
“No he didn’t!”
“Yes he did.”
“No he didn’t.”
“Yes, he did.”
“No, he did,” a relatively slim minotaurs said, crouching down and placing his head next to the mare, helping her stare at Spencer.
“No, he didn’t,” Spencer said, struggling to keep from smiling.
“Yes, he did,” the mare insisted.
“Yep. Glad we cleared that up,” Spencer said, and smiled.
The mare went through the recent exchange in her head, looking at the minotaur hulking above her, before letting out an enraged grunt and storming off.
“Hey, Dan,” Spencer said, and indicated the big, spiked club in the minotaur’s hand. “Been tabletop-ing?”
“Yep. Can I keep it with me tonight?”
“Nope. Never.”
“Oh, come on. I can help you push people away,” Dan said.
“Sure, but not with that you’re not,” Spencer said, and put his hoof to his chin. “You know, there’s an opening for a passphrase in there. You need it to defend yourself from who?”
“Uhm… oh, the Lord of Neverwinter.”
“Acceptable. In you go.”
“Thanks,” Dan said, leaned the club by the side, and opened the door. “Oh, I love this song. Oh, sorry.”
The minotaur made way for Lloyd, who was heading out to check up on his colleague.
“Getting pretty loud in there aren’t they?” Spencer asked him.
“Well, you know, if people need to play it loud to feel better, I guess they should.”
“Yeah, but people, ponies, are gonna hear.”
“I’ll say,” Lloyd said, and pointed to a group of mares and stallions who were already pretty spirited over what the night would offer.
They had picked up on what song was playing inside the club, and were starting to murmuring the lyrics while nodding their heads.
“Aw, crap,” Spencer muttered, and started pushing his way through the line.
It took mere moments before the group was singing the song loudly and spiritedly.
“Weee’ve got a thiiiing that’s-uh called, radar-uh hu-löööÖÖve!”
At about this time, Spencer had made his way behind the party, squeezed them against each other, and were pushing them towards the entrance like a plow.
“Lloyd! Open up!”
Lloyd kicked the doors open just as the big loader that walked like a pony known as Spencer shoved the still singing pile of merry patrons in through the door.
“We’ve got a LINE in the skyyyAAAII–”
Their singing was cut off from the people still in line by Lloyd slamming the door shut after them, he and Francis collapsing against it.
“Haah…” Spencer breathed an exasperated sigh. “What a night.”
“Tell me about it. And now I’ve gotta go in there and serve them.”
“Ah, you love it.”
“So do you.”
“Yep.”
They looked at the line of waiting ponies behind them, most of which looked anticipatory, but others whose expressions ranged from confused, amused, and a little scared.
“Give us a minute, folks,” Lloyd said. “We’ll be right with you.”
They took a few moments to breathe some stress out of themselves, before Spencer’s eyes narrowed a bit.
“Hey… did you see any pony butts in there?” he asked.
“Hmm?”
“I think… ah fff- there were people in there with no pants,” he said, threw the doors open, and rushed in.
—
Vinyl Scratch’s eyes were wide, but they were behind her goggles so it was hard to tell.
She took in the scene in front of her, and her jaw dropped.
The song that the interestingly dressed ponies outside had sung was now playing in full volume. The band on the stage were swinging their hooves and talons, seemingly wildly, but always managing to strum the perfect tune and land the perfect beat, and gripping the microphone and singing as if possessed by sirens, and holding the tripod against them like a very special somepony they… they…
… Well, put simply, it looked very charismatic.
These ponies, and other creatures, managed to look very… provocative, despite the prevalence of pants and skirts. Vinyl suddenly felt very underdressed.
Besides that, ponies, and others, were dancing on the floor, on the tables, on the railings, and on the bar. They were swinging in chandeliers, pressing against each other and singing along without a care in the world between swigs from mugs and bottles.
The bartender was working for four or five ponies, but having a huge smile on his face as he did, bouncing bottles and mugs between kegs and patrons with all four hooves, and sending them across the bar, always missing the hooves of the dancers.
She took a few steps forward when a thestral in a full suit and pants spun out of a group of dancers like a twister, and spun into her.
Instead of being knocked to her side, the stallion managed to catch her mid-spin, and turn the collision into a tango dip.
The blonde-maned and charcoal-coated thestral gave her a suave grin, a rose in his mouth, before he looked down at her undressed lower half.
Vinyl’s sense of being underdressed intensified as the stallion looked back towards her goggles-covered eyes and waggled his eyebrows at her.
Before anything else could happen, a pair of big forelegs wrapped around her and lifted her off her hooves.
“Sorry, folks,” a stallion behind her said, as he walked on his hind legs towards the door, Vinyl still in his firm but gentle grasp.
—
Francis put a hoof or Spencer’s wither, as his large friend slumped on a nearby park bench.
“Come on, man. It’s okay.”
“They made a techno remix of it.”
“It was just one song.”
“They put horse lyrics in it!”
“Ponies,” a passerby insisted.
“Whatever.”
“Hey, come on, you’re the bulwark. We’re gonna need you strong, buddy,” Lloyd said.
Spencer just sighed.
“We’ll help you out more,” Francis offered.
“It’s not that. It’s… well, this was the first chip in the armor.”
Francis and Lloyd looked at each other.
“Yeah,” Francis reasoned. “I guess it was. One song out of countless. It’s gonna take ages before it turns into a real dent.”
“Besides,” Lloyd added. “Isn’t it going to be a lot easier to turn pony-ponies away after this.”
Francis chuckled, and finally lifted his head. “I guess.”
—
Twilight finally felt prepared. She had the quills, she had the scrolls, she had practiced on and refined her old memory-to-print spell. Rarity had taught her what clothes to look for, Applejack had told her what beverages to keep an eye on, Pinkie Pie had taught her what dance moves were found in Equestria and which ones were found in different dimensions, Twilight hadn’t picked up the Pinkie-ness of that yet, everything was ready.
She sat down on the cushion, powered up the scrying orb, and looked.
She felt the disorienting sensation of looking into a scrying orb that hadn’t been told what to focus on yet. With some force of will, Canterlot appeared before her, or beneath her, or around her, it was hard to tell. A little focus, and it was decidedly beneath her.
She didn’t technically hear or see anything, she just felt. Felt the taste of the crisp night air, the scent of the wind, the lights from the street lamps, the various feelings of the ponies around her, the sleepiness of a pegasus that was passing by, the relaxedness of a pair of sleeping foals in a nearby house, and, of course, her target, the invigorating and thrilling sense of alien festivities in this strange new club.
Her senses moved, from the spot up in the sky, down towards the street level, outside the club.
It was, as always, disorienting, having the scrying orb dumping information into her mind, the tastes, and sights, and sounds, and the feelings of the ponies around her. Still, it felt like she was slowly getting the hang of it.
A mare had just been let in through the automatic door, when a stallion walked up to it, and put his hoof on it, pretending confusion.
“There was a hole here,” he said, looking around at the frame. “It’s gone now.”
“Pff, nice,” a large stallion to the side said, and opened the door.
—
The stage was currently empty, except for the drummer.
Not because there was no music playing, but because everyone except the drummer had moved away from the stage, onto the bar, where the main vocalist, a pony and a hippogryph dressed in glamorously studded, black (faux-) leather and airy silken shirts, had been switching back and forth between singing at each other and together, while their backing musicians had sung along, while playing all the various instruments; bass, guitar, sax, etc.
Now they had joined in a dance, to the enthusiastic cheering of the crowd, who mostly helped with the singing.
“Rock’n’roll ‘n brew! Rock’n’roll ‘n brew!”
“They don’t mean a thing when I compare ‘em next to you.”
“Rock’n’roll ‘n brew! Rock’n’roll ‘n brew!”
“You know that you and I, we got better things to do.”
When the song was wrapping up, the band was slowly dancing back towards the stage through the crowd,
They parted ways, and the drawn out crescendo was playing in unison to the singers bowing to the crowd back on stage, who cheered on in the same high spirits as always.
“Hah, hah… thank you, we- we love you all,” the sweat-soaked hippogryph mare panted.
“We love you too!” someone shouted from the background, making the cheers flare up again momentarily, to the grins of the band.
The hippogryph smiled back, as she managed to catch her breath. “And, as is our custom now, I think it’s time for an applaud to the guys running this joint, the men with the plan, Francis, Lloyd, and Spencer. I know you’re busy out there, Spence, but let’s make sure he hears this!” she shouted over the further cheers.
Francis and Lloyd grinned as they kept preparing the refreshments behind their bar.
“Yes, yes,” she said, as the crowd simmered down again. “We really love the work, giving us a place where we can remember home.”
After another small cheer, the hippogryph spoke again, her voice a little heavier. “But, as you know, it’s not always so nice as this, remembering home. Sometimes it feels really heavy.”
The crowd let out a murmur of agreement, nodding at each other.
“And while it’s great to celebrate like this with you all, in such high spirits, it’s also important to acknowledge the bad parts sometimes. So we thought we’d play something with a little different feel to it.” The hippogryph turned to one of the guitarists. “Hit it, Clive.”
—
Twilight, despite pushing her control and focus to their limit, couldn’t hold back the wave of joy and excitement she had felt from the crowd. She was absolutely elated, the feeling reminding her of some of the really good times she felt together with her friends.
Somepony on stage started strumming a guitar, and the crowd whooped their approval of the choice of song, but there was a hint of something else now coloring their high spirits, which seemed to rapidly grow and mingle with the vibrant, electric feeling of joy.
A stallion on the stage took the mic, and started singing. It was something about lines on faces and looking in mirrors, but Twilight couldn’t concentrate on the sounds, she was too captivated by the emotions emanating from the crowd. The joy was still there, but it had stepped aside and made room for something else.
It was… sad, in a very profound way, and yet there was a feeling of great value. They cherished this sadness. Some were singing along, but not in the loud way they had before. Others had sat down on the couches and chairs, and were leaning against each other with their eyes closed, holding on to a great heartbreak.
She couldn’t tell if it was something she was familiar with, or just related to something she had felt before. It was hard to tell, but it reminded her of when Shining Armor had first left for the academy. Not immediately, but in the months and years that followed. There was one point where he had been training out in the field and Twilight hadn’t been able to meet him in a very long time. This reminded her of how she felt then, only worse. Much worse.
Twilight was absolutely still, her senses now fully disconnected from her body. She was only vaguely hearing, seeing, and smelling the interior of the club, but what she was really focused on was the emotions of the ponies and other creatures around her.
She didn’t realize how captivated she was, and couldn’t stop herself from absorbing more, and more, and more…
—
“And the geological institute reports that they have found no indication that the soil should pose any problems when it comes to refilling the reservoirs,” Kibits said, reading from the scroll in his magical grip.
Princess Celestia nodded, managing to have the feeling of being pleased with the smooth running of her nation overpower the feeling of immense boredom.
“As for the survey for expanding the railroad…”
Celestia sensed a prickling in her horn, and a shiver ran down her spine. She suddenly lifted her head, looked off in a seemingly random direction, and went still, like a cat spotting its prey.
“Your majesty?” Kibitz asked.
“Twilight,” Celestia said, mostly to herself.
Kibitz opened his mouth, then nodded, and started rolling up the scrolls and putting them back into his briefcase as Celestia raced out of the room.
Outside of Twilight’s old study, Celestia slowed down, and very gently put her hoof on the door.
It opened to reveal the dark room beyond, lit only by her sister’s night sky.
There, on a couch, underneath a blanket, was a gently rocking lump.
Celestia softly walked in, closed the door behind her, and walked up to her student, eyeing the orb on the nearby table and making sure it was currently dormant.
Celestia didn’t have to ask to know what had happened. She gently lay down on the couch, and as softly as she could, slid under the blanket, and embraced Twilight, putting a wing over her and holding her close.
Twilight gently nuzzled into Celestia’s embrace, gentle, quiet sobs occasionally wracking her.
Celestia rested her chin on her student, and made sure that the blanket covered her thoroughly, before settling down. She lit up her horn and magically examined her as carefully as she could, and let out a relieved sigh.
‘My wonderful, wonderful little Twilight. You wise, good-natured, beautiful, inquisitive, benevolent… foolish, foolish girl. I’m so sorry.’
10121123
Ooh, very nice. I was actually thinking that they were playing Dream On by Aerosmith, but that might have been even more fitting.
10121126
Aye, it is a good one isn't it? Taken the right way it's a terribly/wonderfully sad/hopeful song. Always makes me tear up.
Not gonna lie, I kinda want to see someone come up to report a crime to our dear bouncer friend, swearing they only shot the sheriff in self defense, just to watch the actual ponies freak out.
yay!
10121154
Heh, I wonder how the ponies would react if Spencer asks if he also shot the deputy, and then lets him in when he says that he didn't
10121155
Seems you liked it. Me happy
10121157
I always like long-con stories~
let the ponies believe what they want to believe~
Aaaand that's not a massive breach of privacy there Twilight. Not at all. Nope.
10121165
Well, you know, for science.
Didn't work out great this time though.
10121167
I dunno, the collective power of human despair and depression seems to be a very effective security measure. If they could use it at the door, it would probably be effective...if the average pony can't handle the usual sadness levels a human deals with every day.
Ouch, looks like Twilight just got hit with an entire club's worth of homesickness. Empathic magic sure as hell is a double edged sword.
10121206
Certainly is. She'll be okay though.
I seem to challenge myself a lot with this story, both my notion that knowledge is never a bad thing, and that "cultural appropriation" is not worth, or sensible, fighting against.
10121204
Twilight also kinda caught them at a bad time. Usually it's a very cheerful place. Still, the means of that kind of scrying is probably very, very rare in Equestria, possibly unique (the scrying orbs show up in mlaabq as well, because it's comic-canon that Twilight got ahold of Starswirl's old lab, and I figure he would have had something like that).
That said, most of the time the humans are happy in Equestria. It's not home, but it's a safe and prosperous and joyous place.
I think that the mare who got Vinyl in on accident is going to find herself on several crap lists. Plus Vinyl just ruined those songs so she may see a few less fans as well. Still the biggest lesson was that Twilight got two important lessons, one was just how sad some creatures can be and two how to set up far better safety checks for her spells.
10121233
Post some RULES.
Hopefully she can't break them. That, or her nervous glancing and fidgeting will give her away.
10121240
Well, I'm not very into techno, but I'm guessing that the people making techno doesn't find their popularity diminishing when making techno versions on our world, so Vinyl's fans probably won't know or care where the song comes from. Which would be the most aggravating outcome, and the most likely one from what I understand of the world.
It was Spencer that shoved Vinyl in there though, so no worries about anyone else getting barred from entering.
Also, yeah, one should be careful when using magical devices that just dumps information into one's mind.
10121242
Ooh, that's a good idea as well. 'All ponies born in Equestria must state this fact before entering'.
10121242
Even better, post rules that everyone knows are bogus. like, "members of security must wear blue shirts" or summat. Come to think of it, she'd probably be happy to take advice from a respected member of academia like August Lore, which in this case is a rather poor decision.
Thus Twilight tells Spencer that "Jack Sparrow sent me to settle his debt", as August waves cheerily from his place in line.
10121165
As noted, she was sufficiently punished for it completely by accident.
I wonder when Vinyl gonna be treated as an art thief by them? I hope worse she not making a profit she probably not giving credit to the original artist pure rip off she gonna seem cheap to them!
10121251
Blue shirts? The heresy!
Everyone knows security wears red shirts.
Do I get in?
Go big or go home. What is the meaning of life? What is the velocity of an unladen swallow? 88 keys? And the big one, How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
Does anyone know what the pony in a karate gi was a reference to? I'm assuming Tekken, but I'm pretty sure I'm wrong.
10121251
Remind me who August is
Jack Sparrow almost sounds like a pony name though. They don't usually have animal names as their own names, but there's a jack in there, and it's got three syllables.
10121255
I don't listen to techno, but even I've heard loads of techno-remixes in meatspace and I'm not sure how the compensation, if any, is arranged in real life
I'm pretty sure the rules of the site states that you can't portray real people, so Golden Earring are, sadly, not present in Equestria in this story, so the original artists are not available. Would be cool if they were though
10121259
That would get you in, yes
That reminds me of the thing with dressing up in Star Trek uniforms at ren faires, which would probably work well in Equestria
i.redd.it/3m9me8vifhpz.jpg
10121266
Oh, I took so long writing this that I forgot the details, but I made a blog a few months ago concerning if anyone wanted their OCs to make a cameo in the story. It's probably one of them.
10121265
I can see Twilight now, with the board and colored strings in making the connection between photos and news clippings.
"Ninety nine luftballoons, eighty eight keys. What is the connection?"
10121271
"August Lore" is the unicorn alias used by the ancient loong Venerable Ro in his clandestine efforts to grow his hoard of knowledge. He moseys into the halls of academia like he owns the place, learns and teaches until he tires, and then quietly disappears to hibernate for another few decades. He often announces his reappearances to Celestia by way of a random noble petition to ban "dihydrogen monoxide", which rather sums up his sense of humor really.
10121271
And one that would really get them going considering the circumstances, and one that would highly confuse any nearby pegasuses.
"Take my love, take my land,
Take me where I cannot stand....."
10121277
Ah yes, that's right, you mentioned that alias in the blog. Heh, I should think up some way to have a pony (August) mislead a pony who wants to get in. Let's say it's Twilight.
-"Here's what you do, you take this sword, point it at the bouncer, and tell him you're going to kill him."
-"What!?"
-"Trust me, you calmly say, 'Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle. You killed my father. Prepare to die.'"
-"But... I'm not going to to–"
-"Sshhh-shh-sh. Don't worry your pretty little head over it."
Although that would make her pass the test and Spencer would have to barr her anyway, which wouldn't be fair
10121283
Aah, too bad I haven't seen Firefly
10121288
Yeah the trick is to give somepony advice that sounds good, but knowledge of pop culture reveals that it was actually a really bad idea.
"The family and I just got back from a trip to Jurassic Park; we had a wonderful time and the kids just loved it!"
10121288
GASP
This must be corrected post-haste!
10121293
Hey, if Ro/August is into RPGs, he could, apropriately enough, tell the pony to tell Spencer that making a deal with a dragon is always a great idea
10121295
I guess I should. Never been very into Joss Whedon though. Would I still like it?
10121304
Not at the moment, but he used to play 5E back in the day. Funny thing really, he recognized Ogres and Oubliettes the moment he saw it, which was rather surprising since he hadn't said a word about tabletop RPGs to anypony. Really, the things you miss out on when you spend most of your time either asleep or ensconced in a stuffy academy. This whole thing may well have been a very pleasant surprise.
10121304
Whedon aside, it was all set and ready to be the next Farscape or Babylon 5, but the FOX executives not only bungled the time slots and marketing, they wanted a "more guns" show with a TNG levels of viewership on half the TNG budget, and when Whedon went with Quality over Quantity and didn't get the 'results' the executives wanted, it got canned.
I guess vinyl will start to wear more clothes and be more embarrassed without
10121271 "Ninety nine luftballoons, eighty eight keys. What is the connection?"
"Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers, the dreamers and me!"
"Not now, Pinkie!" Twilight said, looking at her notes with ever-expanding expressions of exasperation. "I'm pretty sure Rainbow Dash has nothing to do with it!"
"Really? Well, what about Cadance? She is the Princess of Love, after all!" Pinkie suggested.
"What's love got to do with it?"
"There you go!" Pinkie said, pointing a hoof at Twilight. "You got it!"
"Got what?" Twilight asked. "Look, Pinkie, I'm really very busy trying to figure out this-"
"We can work it out!" Pinkie interrupted. "We can work it out!" She squeezed Twilight's cheeks between her forehooves and said, in an uncommonly serious tone, "Life is far too short, and there's not time for all this fussing and fighting, my friend."
"PINKIE!" Twilight knocked Pinkie's hooves away, taking several deep and annoyed breaths before continuing, "I don't know what's got into you today! It's almost like you've been possessed..." Her eyes widened at a sudden realization, and then it was Twilight's turn to grab Pinkie's face in her hooves and haul her in for a closer look. "Pinkie," she gasped, "are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Well, I think so, Brain," Pinkie said, "but I don't think transmogrified alien ponies really have much demand for fuzzy bunny slippers."
"No!" Twilight said. "I mean those club ponies are possessed!" She let Pinkie go and shook her head ruefully. "Alien ponies. Inconcievable."
Pinkie's mouth opened, then closed. She shook her head. "Nope," she muttered. "Too easy."
Damn
While it's a shame that Vinyl slipped through, the idea of drowning in the collective depression of people who understand that they'll never go home. Could've been suicide inducing.
We could've said as "Serves her right" to spy for her friends to tap into a potential vein of market, but no, I think she's learned her lesson
10121288
The worst part is that Twilight, being a well known pony, can't ever pass the test, since every former human knows she's not a former human, as poor Lyra can attest.
10121266
The ever so quotable Judge Dredd:
so other then music does the bar have games, talents, readings, and other events they enjoy doing without seeming weird or shocking to the public in their special bar?
I think of how sensitive ponies can be to the more grey and dark things even in-joke and how uppity they would get or the ponies who might try to make a meal ticket off these works to pass as there own "original" idea is a painful topic I love how you write these guys dealing with it as best they can against bad leeches.
im now sad dj pon might have had fun composing with one of are hu ponies if she hadn't done that remix but maybe she is inspired by that opportunity to make some new music to redeem herself later
do you think some of our members in the club had done a social experiment? like writing a few original dark cheesy stories that gut-punch Equestria for its mature vibes and dark topics like suicide, mental health to murder kind of things would it cause worry or writing envy?
10121373
This was the best thing I've read all week.
"Sir Killington M'Dur Yuded."
10121489
Hah, nice. I was gonna suggest Ian Killmister
10121373
Glorious
10121439
Oh yeah. They have boardgames, and RPG nights, and they recreate famous stories on the stage with unicorn-powered special effects and acting cutie marks. Not sure there's a lot that ponies think are "shocking", I reckon that the ponies are also well-versed with in comes to emotional depth in fiction, and the immature kind of mature stories are mostly seen as crass.
10121399
Oh, right. Yeah, the character is an OC, but the reference was from Dredd.
The only other real reference in this chapter that I can remember is the hole reference, from Silent Hill 2, if anyone is curious. Edit: Oh, yes, also Grindhouse.
Twilight is endearing enough to be a favored pony though, should some ponies ever be allowed entrance.
10121390
Oh I hope Twilight would never think that, but have her friends comfort her.
10121321
I might still check it out, to get what everyone is talking about all the time at least.
10121314
Ah. Well, the thing with deals with dragons is from Shadowrun
10121325
She might start a new trend, with ordinary ponies not knowing that humans were behind it
I wonder what Pinkie's status is? Technically able to pass the test, probably able to bypass it entirely by her very nature, but empathic enough not to do either? I wonder if she's on the same "one day, some day" list as Lyra, given her likely popularity among the club clientele?
10121512
Yeah, that's the most likely scenario, I think. She'd want all her friends there though, I think
10121489 Carney V. Horace Meatsteak.
HIs friends call him "Butcher."
Oh Twilight, where I first could only chide you for your "Big Sister" approach to sating your curiosity, I feel sorry that you are now sharing our pain. What will you do now?
10121126
Glad it was kept ambiguous for the reader to fill in.
Guess my choices were a little less apt than yours. I had a real "candle in the wind" vibe at first glance for some reason.
Second glance and I'm now intensely curious about the possibility of Twilight writing a book about humanity's home world of West Virginia.
10121154
That's certainly something worth seeing.
10121167
Maybe it did. A greater understanding is certainly helpful for cultivating a relationship. Would honestly not mind her scrying some more. Probably should continue to be honest. Wouldn't want her to think of humanity mostly as a dour, depressed lot.
10121204
There are things that pony was not meant to know.
10121212
Given Spencer's reaction to Vinyl's remix, I'm now even more curious in the inevitable situation where a human willingly shares culture to a pony. That is certain to be a great source of conflict.
10121255
They'll have to let that one go. Probably even if money is involved. Nothing worse that generating enemies out of a entire people. The Spencer thing was bad enough. This will worse. In group-out group conflicts are truly an ugly thing.
10121582
Kinda, although it was noted that Twilight picked up some lyrics about lines and mirror. Not very conclusive though
Well, it started out great, as she started scrying while everyone was cheering and singing along to Dead Ringer For Love. It was after that it took a turn. But yeah, it's always a fun mental exercise to have Twilight learn of humans and human culture.
So far everyone seems to agree to keep human culture to themselves, perhaps a bit unrealistically. It can't go on forever though, that's true. Sooner or later it will all come out.
10121590
Dang, at least the other lyrics didn't go completely over my head and forced me to look em up online to not be completely clueless heheheh.
She's certainly the best candidate to introduce it to. I'm sure she'll appreciate the knowledge in it's pure, unadulterated form.
Indeed, life goes on.
Hrmmmm... I love this story, not just for the references now, but for this little concept of... like, having to deal with keeping human culture a thing.
Vinyl came out of nowhere it feels like... I wonder what she thought about what she saw, and I kinda wanna see her deal with the people whose culture she's just taken. It's a whole thing that she probably didn't really get, and I'd love to see the consequences for her.
10121373
“I’m not saying it’s aliens... but it’s aliens”
10121658
And that is one of the themes of the story- how the cultures and movements of today will either fade or warp with time.
10121703
Yep. Hmm, I actually just wrote this, but yeah, it's about how the cultures and movements of today won't be around or not be in the same form in the future. I guess that's why we place such value on songs and movies and other static works of art- it will always be a reminder of, or a window into, a culture you might love.
As for Vinyl, well, there are plenty of people who have made techno-remixes of other songs in real life. What happens to them? Are there ever any consequences for them? Do they ever care? I don't actually know.
An update?! Huzzah!
Nice! Can we hope for another chapter soon?
Truth be told, they can be a little scary to humans as well.
Loved the chapter, great to see a new update for this!