Pulling the Puzzle Apart
A bit of time had passed since that rather strange experience, and I was certainly feeling a little bit better in myself. Izzy's statement that dreams can't hurt us was certainly reassuring, but nontheless I was a little wary. Why would such a random assortment of images and senses, as nightmares were supposed to be, be so vivid and have a seemingly coherent plotline? Nightmares aren't exactly known for having logical and coherent storylines, instead usually being a nonsensical jumble of unpleasant and frightening imagery that reflect the victim's mental state. This left me more than a bit confused, and also kinda worried. What would happen if things got worse?
It was during one of those days where I struck up conversation with Zipp. Well, truth be told she found me first, which is hardly surprising. She knows these corridors better than the back of her hoof!
She trotted up to me. "Hey, Sunny!" she said. "Doing anything at the moment?"
I produced my father's journal to hide the fact I hadn't been doing anything. "Just, err, checking my dad's notes on, erm, stuff! You know, the usual!"
"Right," Zipp replied. She had probably seen right through the bluff, but had (for some reason) decided to humour me nontheless. "Got some really good news for you."
"Really?" I said.
"Yup. Tonight's the night of the Royal Celebration, as you probably know, and that is a big occasion. But I thought we should have our own celebration as well."
"Such as?" I asked.
"I ordered in McWings and some drinks," Zipp replied. "I'm part of their loyalty program, so I get money off on bulk orders."
"Zipp, how much food did you order?" I asked, as we began to set off down the corridors.
"Just three meals," she replied. "Two or more is counted as a bulk order under the ordering system. Sheesh, I wasn't expecting the Spanish Inquisition."
Suddenly, a pony in a red hat leaped around the corner. "NOPONY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!" they said, before suddenly vanishing.
I was confused. If that was a Monty Python reference, something seriously strange was going on. If not, that suggested there was a pony version of the legendary comedy troupe. Which is entirely plausible.
Once all that was over, I resumed the conversation as if nothing had happened. "So, any particular reason you ordered food for us? And what spiciness did you go for? McWings is chicken, right?"
Zipp looked at me quizzically. "Do I need a reason to do nice things for my friends?"
Oh. I hadn't considered that. Silly me.
But before I could continue or reply to anything being said Zipp resumed speaking. "I kept the spice level to very low for you two. Personally I prefer medium, but that can be quite hot to those not used to it. And yes, it's chicken. Most widely consumed meat in Pegasus territory, incidentally."
I already knew G5 ponies were omnivores from previous events in my adventure, but to hear equines talk so casually about meat consumption, given that back in the human world ponies are herbivores, was still slightly weird. Zipp then switched topics again.
"You already know about the crystals, right?"
"Well, yes," I said. "Funnily enough, I did want to discuss that with you, Zipp."
"Fire away."
"What precisely are you planning for us, given we know what the story is and all that?"
Zipp grinned. "Simple. We know where the crystals already are, which will dramatically speed up getting them back together. No guessing where they are unlike the original ponies here!"
It was a good thing the guard had taken my book and not my bag. The Earth Pony crystal was still in that, but luckily the bag was safely locked in my room, where nopony could steal it. I, of course, hadn't told Zipp about this, of course, but I would do in due course. "That is true. Seriously, how did nopony realise there was supposed to be something inbetween the Unicorn and Pegasus crystals?"
"Plot convenience?" Zipp suggested. "I mean, Sunny returning home and finding the crystal there does give a reason for the gang to go to Maretime Bay and give the movie a circular narrative. That's where a movie ends in the same location where it began."
"I'm familiar with plot structures," I answered gently. "I was quite the writer back in the human world."
"Yeah, Izzy mentioned this thing called FimFiction a few times," Zipp replied. "I wasn't really a writer. I just tended to lurk in the comments sections!"
That got a laugh out of me. I mean, who hasn't done that?
Food was in one of the sitting rooms, and Izzy joined us a few seconds later. Whilst I tried some of the chicken (seriously good. I hope McWings open a branch in Maretime Bay), Zipp fiddled with the radio, switching between numerous channels to try and find something to listen to.
"So many things and everything until our time is do-"
"No!" Zipp said. "I hate this one." She switched settings.
"'Cause I love to make you smile, smi-"
"How is this on the radio?" Izzy asked. "I thought Pinkie Pie died centuries ago!"
"Beats me," Zipp answered. "Then again, it's possible the melody survived. Remember how in Winter Wishday each Tribe has different words sung to the same melody? Possibly the same thing here." She switched settings once again.
"So get up, get down/
If you're gonna come around/
We can wo-"
"And that's from Equestria Girls," Izzy commented. "How odd."
How odd was an understatement. If this was Generation 5, how was music from the previous Generation playing over the radio? And not only that, songs that were particularly popular with the fanbase!
That last one particularly jumped out at me, as I had indirectly become a brony through the Cafeteria Song (it being one of the first songs from Generation 4 I listened to). In a sense, it gave me a direct connection to my own past.
I must have zoned out for a bit, as I suddenly heard Zipp speaking to me. "Hey, Sunny. What's up? You haven't said anything the entire time."
I then disclosed my nightmare to them. Whilst Zipp wasn't hugely sympathetic at first, Izzy was able to get her to see things my way. It was after this that Zipp had an idea.
"When you two are finished, I'll take you two down to see something pretty remarkable. But only when you two are ready, of course."
I nodded. "Sounds good," I replied, albeit with food coming flying out of my mouth as I was trying to talk and eat at the same time.
Just as suddenly as that, Misty suddenly popped in through the door, with bits of pizza in her mane. Yeah, she was a pretty messy eater back then."Can I come too?" she asked.
Even though I knew what Zipp's workshop, or rather the old cable station, looked like, seeing it in pony was still incredible. The vaulting ceiling, the posters on the walls, and the enormous window with the hole in it were incredible feats of engineering.
"Pretty impressive, huh?" Zipp said, as she gave us the guided tour. "Seems the previous Zipp found the place and turned it into her personal workshop. It was probably some sort of cable station from the days when we were all united and still travelled about. But seeing you guys have seen the film you probably already know that." She backed up to a board and flipped it over. "Which is why I want to speak to you two. I've got a plan so crazy it might just work."
Izzy grinned. "And what's that? I love it when a good plan comes together!"
I was about to suggest to Izzy to lay off on the meta humour for a bit, but Zipp interrupted before I could. "I've got a plan to reunite the crystals early and skip a considerable chunk of the story. You guys already know where the Pegasus Crystal is, so we just need the Earth Pony and Unicorn ones."
Luckily, I had retrieved my bag in the meantime. "Funny you should mention those, as I just happen to have the Earth Pony crystal on me."
"When did you get that?" Izzy asked.
"Removed it from the bottom of my lantern before I left for CanterLogic," I replied.
"Perfect!" Zipp said. "Izzy, do you have the Unicorn Crystal?"
"No," Izzy answered. "But I do have a tin of baked beans!"
Zipp sighed. "It's OK. I doubt Alphabittle would let anypony wander off with it anyway. OK, so that speeds things up a little. This just means we need to get the Pegasus Crystal and we'll be good to go."
"Will that be as hard as in the movie or harder?" Izzy asked.
"Harder," Zipp said. "The crystal, as you know, is part of mom's crown, and there's no guarantee she's one of us, if you know what I mean. We had a break in a little while back, courtesy of- wait a second, where did Misty go?"
Stats
Page generated in 0.017 seconds
Total duration
722 users online
652,568 hits today, 1,872,792 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
11559379
11559455
11559501
11559621
11559705
11559712
11562339
11562970
11667409
Good news! I don't have a Dacia Sandero, but this new chapter should make up for it.
great chapter mate keep it up cant wait for the next chapter United We Stand Divided We Fall
Another great job on this chapter. REALLY loved the Monty Python/Spanish Inquisition reference (and, yeah, I COULD see where it could be the Equestrian counterpart to the Monty Python group) as well as appreciated Sunny reflecting on that nightmare from the previous night. ALSO loved "Sunny" and "Zipp" discussing fan fiction and the addition of an Equestria Girls song (yeah, I have a hunch that was at least partially "Pipp's" and/or "Haven's" doing given that they are ALSO humans-turned-ponies and they would be the only ones with [at least presently] a good enough standing in Zephyr Heights to swing that kind of thing). The "McWings loyalty program" was another nice touch as was "Izzy's" A-Team reference. As for where "Misty" went, that is probably going to be answered in the next chapter to THAT story.
Anyway, really looking forward to more of this.
Sure is.
I just read them and comment my thoughts on them.
It's a good theory.
I can somewhat relate, albeit the first whole movie over the song.
Really Sunny.
Not to ruin the moment but wouldn't that technically be bad/ruin the way the story went?
Uh oh!
11675379
Still a banger a decade later.
11675383
As previously noted, something I'm trying to convey is a sense of a living breathing world that lives underneath the stories we see on the big and small screen, with the characters and communities having their own lives and actions away from what happens in the episodes.
Hence all the small details. And keep some of the strange stuff in mind-it may come up later.
11675566
1. Apparently our dimension's ponies will resort to cannibalism if sufficiently pushed.
2. That is a good policy, as lurkers can be interesting to work with.
3. Indeed.
4. I actually discovered the song by accident, as a chance roam onto EqD to try and find the S2 promo led me to the EqG movie. The rest, as they say, is history.
5. You try eating neatly when your mouth has been so radically reconfigured.
6. The best laid plans oft go wrong.
7. I wonder where she could be?
Okay!
BUDDY CALM THE FOURTH WALL BREAKAGE
11675748
Hey, when a fourth wall breaks happens... it has to happen. ^^
And there's nothing that one can't help it with the fourth wall break anyways.
11675748
Forth wall humour is, admittedly, a part of my writing style.
11675755
That's one way of putting it.
11675748
11675755
11675964
Fourth wall? I thought they were talking about the mlp fandom stuff they were into back in their old world.