Sunset Shimmer, who is catastrophically out of Wallflower Blush's league, has come back to town for the summer. Sunset is very kind and attentive. She likes hugs. She keeps coming up with cute little inside jokes. She stares, piningly, when she thinks Wallflower isn't looking.
So, it would just be very easy for Wallflower to get the wrong impression.
Which is why she was happy when she stumbled across a way to know the objective truth about how she and Sunset measure up against one another.
A last-second entry in the Sunflower Shipping Contest.
Chapters (2)
I chose this image because it looks like she's beat-boxing.
Well well. This was quite the entertaining ride. I particularly liked the way you took a common concept, that being the constant reminders of the mistakes we've made, and then use that in the form of a very silly named phone app. Perfectly fits and yet is hilariously silly at the same time. I love it.
Where did you come up with the name Juicy? Or was it a case of you were thinking something like juicy gossip? Either way I thought that name was brilliant.
Also, I do quite like that Wallflower's other best friend besides Trixie is Derpy, just because it's fun to see Derpy used in this way. I liked the way you characterized her.
Gotta object to the hottest person Sunset's ever kissed being Flash though when the answer is clearly Adagio Dazzle.
Anyways good luck in the contest.
Wow wow wow I really like this story. I'm actually sad there's no more chapters. Also even though I saw the comedy tag I couldn't breathe for five minutes after trixie threw her phone onto the road. I'm definitely checking out your other stories.
Nice. :)
I'm sorry, both Wallflower and Sunset have an omniscient oracle at their beck and call, and all they do is use it to figure out relationships? That seems like an enormous waste. They should ask Juicy whether or not there's a god, or how to build an FTL spaceship, or, heck, even just cut out the nonsense and go for the name of their soulmates! Even if it doesn't answer properly sometimes, it's worth a shot. (edited multiple times)
10765039
Actually, one of the first questions Sunset asked was "Is it an enormous waste I'm using this app to just find ways to feel bad about myself?" and Juicy said yes and then Sunset felt bad about herself.
10765039
Going to the extreme with magic has never ended well for them. You should only need to learn that lesson once.
10764583
In the original version of this, everyone was arguing about who the hottest person would be, and then it turned out Sunset had kissed Applejack, and everyone was like, oh well, duh, okay, it's Applejack obviously. Because it's hilarious to me that Applejack would be this blindingly hot supermodel-level beauty who wears a stetson and goes around talking like Reba McEntire.
But that was getting complicated so I dropped that element and just threw in the skinny rich girl, because it's who Wallflower would be most insecure about. Juicy would get nothing out of mentioning Adagio, even if it was true, because the whole time that was going on, Wallflower was just clasping her hands behind her back and frowning.
10765150
Gotcha, gotcha. Makes sense to me. And it's too bad that got too complicated because that does sound equal parts hysterical and frankly like something I can agree with. Cause Applejack is awesome.
10765039
I doubt it would have answered. As Derpy points out in story, its answers are meaningless despite sounding like they mean something. And this bit of magic was, as Wallflower points out, geared around one thing: keeping them from forgetting. Unless one of them hit their head on a sink while hanging a clock and had a vision in their head, I don't think it would've helped them do anything except what they did with it.
10764654
Well, if Trixie doesn't want to steal every scene she's in, then she should stop being so much fun to write, now shouldn't she.
No, no she can not. That is a recipe for an XK right there
Why am I reminded of P!AtD?
10766216
Biggie just literally exploded in his grave.
10766634
I meant from the title alone
I feel so connected to Wally right now. This is me full stop, especially the idea that to think someone likes you is arrogent and disgusting. Or to try and stop thoughts that you consider evil
Fuck never mind I am also Sunset, hating myself, dwelling on all the times I hurt people. Basically the Juicy app was made for me. Set aside Wally and Sunny you are being replaced by someone who is both of you at the same time, plus who is also depressed about all the terrible things that happen in the world.
"Hey Juicy how many people support Fascism right now?"
"Uncountably high"
10765039
i get the feeling, that the app is a negative influence. purposely.
sunset says she uses it to keep herself in line, implying that the app reminds her of everything she's done wrong.
what do you think this implies to wallflower and all the responses she gets from the app?
10765039
Juicy is omniscient only to a point, apparently. Or the app is a jerk.
I liked how the simplest, and most common-sense solution (destroying the phones) was actually the one applied, and that it was also the one that was so unexpected (even by most readers) that it was the most surprising!
At the same time, with all that hinting you were giving Apple Bloom earlier, I thought for sure it was a foreshadow of her and the Crusaders being the ones yo solve the problem this time after it turns out that their sisters and all the others were secretly using Juicy.
And since Wallflower made it a point that the magic from the memory stone didn't just go away after the stone was destroyed, but instead turned into an app, then what happened to the magic after the phones were destroyed? (Insert humorous answer here, please)
This was really nice. The highlight, though, wasn't the relationship between Sunset and Wallflower, it was the whole thing about the Juicy app. I feel like it's a wonderful allegory of the negative impact of social media on people of this generation. This is a wonderful example of using fantasy to paint a picture of our reality.
Also, when I read your comment about Wallflower beatboxing, I literally thought this was gonna be a fic about Wallflower joining the Rainbooms as a beatboxer
10765039
"I'm sorry, I don't understand your question."
10767415
....actually, I'd totally read a story about Fluttershy's completely accurate fears that the band's new beat-boxer makes her tambourine even more unnecessary than it already was.
10767415
I also think it's a good allegory for addiction. How both Sunset and Wallflower get so defensive about the usage of the app, how they ignore the clear signs of the damage it's causing them while convincing themselves that they need it, and how it slowly pushes them away from their friends.
10764654
The Moondancer / Fluttershy series is fantastic
This cranky old sourpuss maintains the wisdom and humor of a bygone era
And references to bands that are good that I have not checked out enough yet
The first sentence stating that the phone was ran over hit me but the immediate continued follow up of several more trucks and cars running over the phone is what really broke me too
The hilarious, deadpan, showstealing heroism that we all need in our lives
10767746
You are absolutely right, it is fantastic, I'm actually reading the sequel right now.
I'm betting Juicy is evil magic, and intentionally only answers questions that it knows won't create positive emotions or help people. I don't know if it's related to the Sirens or not, but I would not be surprised if it's a part of their lost magic.
...or, alternately, it's playing the long game as a way to get those two to help the other confront their issues and hopefully heal from their low self esteems... but dang is it a jerk anyway then.
I adore this Trixie.
10765134
That's... Oof. That hit a bit too close to home
10767595
I, too, would 100% read that story
That was a really great story!! It's a wonderful exploration of emotional self-harm and how horrifyingly addictive it really can be. Not to mention, the comedy you weaved into it was great (particularly Trixie in the second chapter!)
One thing that put me off a bit was the way you set scenes, I'm not sure if it's intentional, but a lot of the story didn't have a sense of space or location in a lot of the scenes (if that makes any sense). In particular, it felt like characters and set pieces were popping into my mental image of the scene out of nowhere as the scene went on, instead of feeling like a space, where things in the environment are mentioned as they come into focus. It's a bit hard to articulate what thee problem is exactly, but I hope this helps a bit!
I'm looking forward to what else you have in store!! (Definitely going to go back and read some of your older fics soon!)
10768432
You're not wrong. I hate setting scenes, I think because I used to write screenplays way more than I ever wrote prose fiction, and I lost patience with everything but dialogue.
In fact, I had to go back, scrambling to meet the contest deadline, and make it clear that last scene happened at Applejack's farm, because it kinda happened nowhere just at first. And I distinctly remember reminding myself to describe Sunset's sublet, but then I really felt like I should add a running gag with something about the phrase "Sunset's sublet" and then I just ran out of time. Oops.
10768799
Well, your dialogue more than makes up for the lack of scenery!
My subconscious impressions kinda run wild when I'm visualizing a scene, and the fact that, in my head, I imagined "applejack's farm" not as an apple orchard, but as a completely nondescript seemingly infinite field of wheat kinda fits your initial plan of the scene happening nowhere in particular
Maybe next time I read one of your fics I'll just imagine characters entering from stage left, instead of popping into existence
10766847
Hey Juicy how many people think that the exact opposite of fascism is any better?
Head to the nearest American college campus and start counting.
That was nice.
10769437
What do you mean the exact opposite of Facism? And what do you mean people in college campuses support it, and its just as bad?
Totally not what I thought it was going to be. The description left me expecting something cute and fluffy along the lines of sunset trying to flirt wallflower into admitting she likes her. What I got was something so deep and introspective that it made me think about some of my own thought patterns. And yet it was still cute and fluffy. Very impressive.
Hello there! One of the judges for Scampy's SunFlower Shipping Contest checking in for your donation choice for this submission. Which of the three charities would you like $20 donated to on your behalf?
10773937
GLAAD!
I don’t know how to feel about Beck having a horse-pun name in this continuity, but not Alfred Nobel.
Actually, come to think of it, his full name’s probably, like... Alfalfa Nobel, or... or something.
10789568
I CANT BELIEVE I MISSED AN OPPORTUNITY FOR A HORSE PUN. HORSE PUNS ARE PRACTICALLY THE ENTIRE REASON I WRITE THESE STORIES.
I mean the obvious one is Afred Cowbell and in Equestria he's a cow. Alfred Camel is a possibility too. Cam-EL.
Ehh I can't think of anything funnier than Alfalfa Nobel.
Yeah, okay, rereading this, it really should be Pinkie in that last scene instead of Rarity and Applejack. She's the one with stakes in the main conflict, and she's the one who's been part of things since the story began.
I should have seen this coming from a mile away... however, I did not, and laughed out loud at that moment.
The final scene evokes Pleasantville vibes:
"Where do we go from here?"
(amiably) "I don't know!"
She just needs to hook up with Derpy, that is a good prize.
I feel educated. :)
You tell her, Juicy! :V
Juicy, you know nothing
God, they're both just so dumb and I want to strangle them this is great
The sass is strong with this one. :D
Excellent thesis statement.
11001471
Derpy's got other priorities right now. She and Bulk tried to make it work long-distance after high school and it just didn't last, nd she hasn't been looking. The Connection is just really important to her, and she's totally fine being single until she gets it.
She's deeply rewarded and gratified by the depth this whole adventure ends up adding to her friendship with Wallflower, though.
(i.e. I just think Derpy is hilarious as Wise Old Soul Mom Friend who falls over all the time)
Gay panic and failure to communicate!! The Chapter
As cute as the Sunflower part was I’m ashamed to say that Trixie and Juicy stole the show and became the best characters eon the story.
But I must admit I also like how the addiction aspect is added to everything with them panicking about losing the magic app. As someone who had my family do an intervention about my Porn and Self-harm addictions I appreciate the way you moved the intervention along while still keeping it real.
And despite the silly nature Juice the app was/is genuinely a good villain!
Feeling inadequate and unworthy of affection? Yupp, know that one.
Feeling guilty for hurting those you care about? Yupp, know that one, too.
I don't think I would use Juicy, though. I'm perfectly capable of doing that myself.
You write a damn good Trixie. She was annoying, she was obnoxious, and she saved the day in a way that makes you grumble in frustration. And I love your version of Derpy as well.
Seeing as the phones got smashed, I wonder where that magic will show up next. Because apparently, it doesn't just vanish, so it should reemerge somewhere, sometime. Makes me think about the Sirens, for some reason...
The writing and characterization was top notch and you had such great pacing.
Thank you.