• Member Since 10th Jul, 2011
  • offline last seen 3 hours ago

Shrinky Frod


Exploring the depths of the equine psyche! Now with ko-fi link and SubscribeStar!

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Ladybugs. Cute, harmless, helpful for protecting crops.

And a source of dread for the Princess of Friendship, all thanks to her brother’s foalhood pranks and hoaxes.

Or is that all there is to it?

Content Warning: Sleep deprived ravings of a madman

Chapters (1)
Comments ( 50 )

... Wat?

No really. What?

10302415
And then Ocellus opened her wing-covers, and the ladybugs poured forth! :pinkiegasp:

10302422
No comment there.

Of course the real reason for all of this? Hasbro is too fucking lazy to stick to its own established canon, or their writers don't give any fuck whatsoever about established lore.

Either one isn't good. But the story is at least.

10302429
I mean, it's not like they had Twilight cooing at ladybugs previously in the series. I personally enjoyed most of S9, including the minisodes, but that's a different debate.

I still don't like bugs

10302436
Except that short down right contradicted Twilight's and Cadance's dance, and its whole existence. By the logic from the short, they would never even do it. Yet they did.

Twilight may not have cooed at ladybugs, but she never once had a meltdown about them before the short. Nor did she after it aired either. Or was it even brought up.

10302585
Oh dang it OK maybe not all bugs but I'm still afraid but I can't be afraid to ocellus 😅 she so sweet 💗

Well then that means twilight will never go to sleep at night knowing the lady bugs are out there lol And again I don't blame her I'm afraid of bugs too 😅

10302583

It's all alternate universes from the season two finale on. :pinkiecrazy:

Ocellus is best bookbug. This is faved.

Huk
Huk #13 · Jun 26th, 2020 · · ·

Oh, boy! Twilight's gonna be sleeping under her bed for a while :rainbowlaugh:

Ending scene:

"H-how is she?" Ocellus said.

"In stable condition, but I had to do a little cognitive recalibration first," Starlight said.

"...cognitive--"

"I hit her very hard in the head!" Ocellus cocked her head, blinking in disbelief at Starlight's comment. "Hey! Don't you dare give m that face missy! You're the one who caused all this! Besides, it worked, Twilight lost all the memory related to your paper... and the entire last day, but that's beside the point. Now, young lady, give me one good reason not to send you to detention--"

camo.fimfiction.net/AzLZ7s1jAk0K-OC5t1Aq3mT0cQCSlNl3u_3A3vqfz_k?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.chzbgr.com%2Ffull%2F9144924160%2FhDDFB8CEB%2Fpwease

After a brief pause, Starlight let out a sigh. "Fair enough. Now go, I need to write a report," Ocellus nodded and disappeared behind a corner. "... I need to talk with Twilight to ban excessive cuteness..."

:unsuresweetie:

Neat! Always will support more fics about Ocellus!

Poor Twilight...

Though if Changelings breed insects, what about dragonflies? With a 98% kill rate, they're the most efficient predators if I remember correctly, whereas members of the big cat family like lions and cheetas don't even get to 50%, I think.

Just imagine a swarm of giant dragonflies swooping on the Changelings like they're flies.

10303035
The highest for the feline family as far as I know are black footed cats at 60%.

10302921
Lol thats funny man I like that 🤣

10302585

We're sure. Now...

"COME ON YOU APES! YOU WANNA' LIVE FOREVER?!"

The way you made this adorably funny out of a fear that Twilight has is just MMMM so good! I could only imagine the situation Twi's in after that big scream at the end! Gosh, this was one heck of a fun fic to read! Hope ya didn't mind, but I made a lil audio thingy on this great story of yours!

Audio Linkery!: https://youtu.be/Z3VpGtN8Lc4

(I don't mean to offend anyone with this comment in any way!)

Heh, that makes so much sense

Heh, that was cute, and actually makes sense as something the changelings would've done. Bugs of any sort would be the ultimate spy tool.

Heck, I've heard of US military and espionage projects that tried to put little cameras on various insects (bees mostly I think) and then release them into areas they wanted to snoop on. There have been rumors that they've now been working on drones on the same scale capable of doing the same things.

So it's a legit IRL thing. :twilightsmile: I...don't know if that'll reassure anybody here, though... :pinkiecrazy:

10302583

Except that short down right contradicted Twilight's and Cadance's dance, and its whole existence. By the logic from the short, they would never even do it.

Can I just say that I'd be a-okay with that? Because I have to admit...never really did like that whole "ladybugs awake" ditty. It always felt more embarrassingly cringey than cute. :twilightsheepish:

10303815
I never said the dance was a good thing, seeing as I agree with your thoughts on it. But it doesn't change facts that the short made it clear that it never should have existed in the first place.

Going by the logic presented. So no. I haven't heard a thing that justifys the short and what it presented in any way.

Comedy only goes so far when you shit on your canon.

10304060
Well, I suppose they could've always done quesadillas instead...but I'm not sure that would've worked as well in terms of plot or animation. :rainbowlaugh:

There's also the possibility that because Twilight associates the song with Cadance and not so much the actual lyrics, the fact that it mentions ladybugs at all doesn't really sink into her mind, and thus doesn't trigger a fear response (though that might chance if someone were to point it out to her and make her self-aware of it). Or the positive influence of it being associated with Cadance, someone she views very fondly, is enough to overrule the fear on this one occasion. Fears like these, after all, are usually irrational, and sometimes the "rules" they follow in when they trigger or don't trigger are equally irrational.

But that's really reading into it, far more than I'm sure anyone on the show's staff intended.

So in the end, you certainly have a point about that conflict in the lore...but I also feel like you're overselling how impactful it is just a little too. The short, after all, is just that. A short done for fun. It doesn't really fit into the more important and major lore of any particular season (beyond showing life at the school in brief), and it's not really referenced again in show. Personally, I always saw it as something of a throwaway tale that wasn't meant to be read too much into, and thus hadn't been too bothered by it. At the end of the day, even if it conflicts with preexisting lore technically, it didn't really matter to the show in the grand scheme of things. If it really bugs a fan that much, then it's just as easy to ignore its existence and not lose out at all.

Not trying to justify the continuity error here, just saying it also doesn't really mess up the important things in the long run too.

10304080

There's also the possibility that because Twilight associates the song with Cadance and not so much the actual lyrics, the fact that it mentions ladybugs at all doesn't really sink into her mind, and thus doesn't trigger a fear response (though that might chance if someone were to point it out to her and make her self-aware of it).

That in itself could make for a fun story where Twilight demands Cadance to change the words of their chant. Then they spend who-knows how long going through names before Twilight finds the one that's just right.:rainbowlaugh:

I can only hope Spike or someone else was standing nearby in confusion while the slow rictus of absolute terror formed on her face.

this begs the question of who has the ability to see througth the ladybugs now

10303399

"COME ON YOU APES! YOU WANNA' LIVE FOREVER?!"

Why, yes, actually — why do you ask? :moustache:

10304080
Lazy writing is lazy writing. Is it really too much to ask for consistency?

10303439
Eep! Thank you, I don't mind in the least! :raritystarry:

10303035 Now I'm thinking of the Poison Forest from Naussica of the Valley of the Wind.

Thanks for this, I needed a good laugh.

I was actually reminded of the attempt by the U.S. to use bats to drop incendiaries on Japan during World War 2 with this fic. I'm... actually surprised I remember that, but apparently, yeah, that was a thing.

Tiny animals are such strange beings, but their habits, and I think it shows better here than in that experiment, which was canceled during inception for taking too long to make combat-ready. In fact, I think that might have been the same reason that Chrysalis did so in this case - by the time they'd be fully capable, the plan to overtake Canterlot from within was available, and far less deleterious to their forces than an all-out invasion, even with a secret weapon. After all, if that weapon is lost...

Well, this story was quite invigorating to read, and as soon as Headmare Twilight's heart is done defibrillating, I'm sure she'll agree. :twilightangry2:

Good on you for making that firemark, and I hope to see more from you.

10305670

taking too long to make combat ready

Also, they roosted in various random buildings and burned them down.

10305693

That too, but after that it was called Project X-Ray, transferred to the navy, and they tinkered with it until 1945 to the tune of 2 million dollars.

Felt that was more relevant to Ocellus' tale, since it was literally trashed in favor of a better option (the A-Bomb) like this ladybug project was trashed in favor of a better option (Canterlot Wedding, which would get them in without casualties or immediate war.)

10305726
There were lots of weird ideas in WWII. Most likely even now. :rainbowlaugh:

P.S. I'm TwilightLover.

10304234
"Counselor Starlight?"

"Not now, Ocellus!"

" Just, is this a bad time to mention I included anatomical diagrams and statistics on how quickly Pharynx says they could suck a changeling dry? "

"Yes!"

10305811
I’m reminded of a horoscope from the onion.
“You always thought ladybugs were such cute, innocent insects, but it turns out that in sufficient numbers, any creature can gnaw one’s leg down to the bone.”

I'm mad that the team made that dumb joke about Twilight being scared of ladybugs though, because she'd shown a complete disregard for their existance earlier in the series. Here we see that she was face to face with one, THE SAME SIZE AS HER, and she just. didn't react. She even watched it fly away after being returned to proper size.


Not your fault tho good story 10/10

10305896
I actually looked it up. Ladybugs eat aphids whole - when they can. Before that, they draij them like little insect juice boxes.

Wow, who would have thought that twilight’s fear was rational?

10302583

Except that short down right contradicted Twilight's and Cadance's dance, and its whole existence. By the logic from the short, they would never even do it. Yet they did.

I find that to be a really bizarre conclusion to draw. I've suffered badly from arachnophobia since I was a little kid, but that never once stopped me singing the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" song.

I'm not a huge fan of the short (or a lot of the writing post season 6 for that matter), but if I were going to compile the most nitpicky list possible of times when later writers contradicted or questionably interpreted the cannon laid down by earlier writers, Twilight having a fear of ladybugs wouldn't make the cut.

Ocellus uses "nobuggy" where ponies use "nopony"?

That makes me so happy, for some reason.

Hahah hahaha hahah !

So, I was giving it another read, and now I'm imagining that changelings might have their own war beetle based tactical game. Probably titled Beetletech.

https://m.
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