A/N: Oh wow! One chapter in one day garnered over a hundred favorites. Dang!!! XD Just as an aside, don't go expecting this rate of update to be a normal thing. I actually had finished and submitted the first chapter a few days ago and then waited for a day or so for FIM Fiction to approve it while I worked on this one. So, just keep that in mind, thanks.
& & &
Lunchtime found the four weather pegasi: Rainbow Dash, Cloud Kicker, Blossomforth and Raindrops sitting around a table at the local café. This had been the routine since before Rainbow Dash came to Ponyville and Ditzy Doo sat where Dash was now. However, the innovation that the last pony to complete their assignment paid for lunch for the others was only a month old and coincided with a certain rainbow-maned pegasus becoming weather manager.
To be fair no one pony ended up becoming bankrupt on account of it. The loser usually ended up shifting between Rainbow’s three co-workers on a more-or-less regular basis and none could grumble because Rainbow Dash usually took the lion’s share of the day’s assignments. Some would say that she did so in order to be somewhat sporting and a recognition that she could do more work on account of her incredible speed. Others would say that she only did it so she’d have more to brag about when she invariably finished first. The truth was probably somewhere in the middle there.
In fact, Rainbow Dash HAD lost one time (to her eternal shame) when she just couldn't rouse herself from her mid-morning nap and slept all the way through to lunch. She swore it would never happen again. She wasn’t referring to not taking naps during work hours that is, but napping so long that the others finished up before her.
The others had their own strengths and weaknesses that offset one another which meant that any one of them could end up paying for lunch on any given day. Raindrops was, to put it bluntly, a very slow, even clumsy flier. However this was compensated by her sheer endurance and love of her job; to say nothing of her talent with precipitation as indicated by her Cutie Mark. Blossomforth wasn’t very fast or strong, but was incredibly nimble and flexible (something that Cloud Kicker was sure to comment on, loudly and often without proper context). Cloud Kicker was, after Rainbow Dash, the fastest flier but her propensity for distraction—especially when a distraction took the form of a particularly hot looking piece of flank (her words)—meant that even her speed didn’t guarantee that she wouldn’t be paying for lunch. If you were to ask her though, all Cloud Kicker would say was “Worth it!”
Today the latter was paying as she regaled her friends and coworkers about the very attractive stallion she met during her shift. “…I’m inviting him back to my place tomorrow night.”
Blossomforth nibbled on a daisy sandwich, wrinkling her muzzle in equal measures of bemusement and horror. “Cloud Kicker you’re incorrigible.”
Rainbow Dash tapped a hoof against the table as she thought aloud. “You know Kicker, your family’s pretty big. I mean, back in Canterlot there had to be a dozen of you guys in the Guard alone.” Cloud Kicker nodded in agreement. “So I mean, you can’t possibly keep track of everypony in Equestria who’s a Kicker…so the next time you’re hitting on somepony, how do you know it isn’t your cousin or something?”
“Ewww!” Blossomforth squeaked. “Ugh, how can you even think of something like that?” She looked to Cloud Kicker for support but found her friend looking oddly thoughtful.
She just shrugged as Blossomforth took a drink of water. “Eh, for all I know it HAS happened already. I feel like the pursuit of a good bang is worth a little risk.” She rubbed her muzzle. “Maybe I SHOULD start asking them about their families before we bang though. Wouldn’t want a repeat of that weekend with Cousin Medley.”
Blossomforth sputtered, expelling a spray of water onto Raindrops and Rainbow Dash, who held up their hooves in a doomed effort to keep themselves dry. “PPFFFFF!!! C-CLOUD KICKER!” Blossomforth coughed, turning red—a combination of embarrassment and her near-choking.
Cloud Kicker pumped a hoof in triumph. “Aha! Spit take away! Nailed it!”
“Charming…” Raindrops drawled, dabbing her face with a napkin. “Who needs weatherponies to make it rain when we have you two?”
Rainbow Dash snickered. “That’s not a half bad idea! We could probably cut back on our rain cloud orders just by having Blossomforth drinking lots of water up on a cloud somewhere and letting Cloud Kicker….be Kicker.”
Said pegasus bowed as if acknowledging praise while Blossomforth moaned, burying her red face in her hooves. “Hate you all….SO much…”
“Aww we know you love us.” Cloud Kicker draped a hoof across Blossomforth’s shoulder, pulling her in for a sideways hug. She squeaked and feebly tried to pull away from the crazy lavender pegasus. She looked appealingly to Rainbow Dash, but her boss just held up her hooves helplessly and shook her head as if to say ‘better you than me.’ Raindrops munched on some hayfries.
“A-anypony else have anything interesting happen to them today?” Blossomforth blurted out as she desperately tried to untangle herself from Cloud Kicker’s grip. “Anything NOT—perverted?”
Rainbow Dash swallowed a mouthful of her sandwich, eager to jump in first. “Oh yeah!” She said, a delicate spray of crumbs peppering the table in front of her. “So, there I was in the apple orchard, right? And while I was waiting for Applejack to walk into this EPIC prank—” she looked up to see Raindrops sigh and roll her eyes as Cloud Kicker shot Rainbow a look with a quirked eyebrow. “—well, anyway, I ran into Ditzy Doo.”
“How’s she doing?” Cloud Kicker let Blossomforth go as she turned to Rainbow for an answer. Raindrops’ ears perked up as she waited for the response.
“She’s doing great.” Dash beamed. “She’s getting a lot more rest, she looks happier—of course that could just be because I moved in.” She smirked, reveling in the eyerolls of her coworkers. “Anyway, she managed to get some work done on her house that was overdue and is loving that she gets to spend more time with Dinky. I tell you, she had that promotion coming for a long time.” Nopony disagreed. Eccentricities and clumsiness aside, Ditzy was a fairly capable weather manager and mailmare. The only reason she didn’t advance sooner was because she ran herself ragged at her other job—which the post office could say the same regarding the weather service.
Blossomforth smiled. “Awww. What’s it like living there?”
Rainbow Dash pretended to think for a moment before coming up with a response. “Muffin-y.” That got a snort out of everypony present. “Seriously though, it’s pretty awesome. Ditzy’s an amazing cook, Dinky’s a lot of fun—really smart for a filly her age too. It’s a nice place and I like it.” She paused. “I kinda wish Ditzy had a cloud place, but…” she shrugged. “It’s cool.”
“Hope you aren’t eating her out of house and home.” Raindrops commented, looking at the crumbs on her plate that used to be a daisy sandwich, two side orders of hayfries, a soda, and a small salad. If Rainbow Dash didn’t have such a fast metabolism—pegasi tended to burn a lot of calories flying—she’d be looking like a bowling ball with wings by this point.
Rainbow shot her a look. “Hey, I earn my keep! I take Dinky to school in the morning when Ditzy has to deliver the mail, I foalsit for her, I clean….sometimes…and I help pay for groceries and stuff.”
“I’m sure that’s not what Raindrops meant.” Blossomforth chimed in. “She just…well, have you ever tried making something for her?”
“Does paying for take out count?” Rainbow asked. “I mean…I’m an awesome cook and all.” She added quickly, convincing nopony. “Buuuut Ditzy’s just more familiar with her kitchen and stuff.” The cyan pegasus took another hayfry and started chewing on it, having an excuse on hoof to not answer if anypony else had a comment.
The others traded a look and mutually decided not to bother. They knew Rainbow Dash couldn’t cook and that it would be more trouble than it was worth trying to get her to admit to it, so what was the point? They just shrugged and moved on.
Cloud Kicker couldn’t help being herself when she asked, “So…have you and Ditzy ever…” the rest of her question was asked by a wiggle of her eyebrows. Rainbow Dash started to choke on her hayfry, turning purple. Raindrops had to pound her back until she coughed up the soggy piece of hayfry onto the table, gasping for air.
“W-what?!” Dash finally exhaled after greedily chugging down a glass of water that was offered from Blossomforth. “Ditzy Doo is like my SISTER! Don’t be disgusting!”
That outburst prompted only a slight shrug from Cloud Kicker. “Come on, it’s not like she’s related to you. She’s a pretty cute mare and a sweet gal. I wouldn’t mind having a taste of her muf—”
“Lalalalalalala!” Rainbow Dash covered her ears and began chanting loudly in a particularly off-key voice. “I can’t heaaaaaar you!” After a quick look around confirmed that Cloud Kicker’s mouth wasn’t open—indeed Blossomforth had swiftly inserted her hoof into it—she lowered her hooves and cleared her throat. “Where were we? Oh yeah I was telling you all about this awesome news I got! After I ran into Ditzy, she gave me my mail…well, she actually gave Applejack my mail but that’s not important. What matters is that an old friend of mine is going to be coming to town tomorrow! This is going to be so great!” Her eyes gleamed. “I’m going to have to stock up on some supplies though…she always tries to outdo me with these unicorn magic-y special effects but this time I’ll be ready! I’ll gather up some a few thunder clouds…”
“Wait, unicorn?” Cloud Kicker made a face. “Please tell me it’s not—”
“Those are meant to be used for work.” Raindrops interrupted, frowning at Rainbow Dash.
She just waved her off. “Eh, it’s only a few. We’ve got extras.”
“What if there’s an emergency or the next order from Cloudsdale gets backed up?” Raindrops persisted.
Rainbow Dash was getting irritated. “And what if clouds were made of cotton candy, what’s your point?”
The jasmine pegasus felt her jaw clench. “You could try taking your job a bit more seriously. How you act reflects on the rest of us you know.” She gestured at the rest of the table, encompassing the entire group.
“Don’t go dragging Cloud Kicker and Blossomforth into this.” Dash snapped. “You’re the one who has the problem Raindrops, not them, not me: YOU.”
“Can you blame me?” Raindrops snorted angrily. “It’s one thing for you to just drop in and land yourself a job that some of us *worked* hard to earn, I can deal with that. What I can’t deal with is that you don’t take the job seriously and you expect us to listen to you!”
Blossomforth (bless her) tried to intervene. “Come on you guys, can we not do this?” But neither of the two more hard-headed mares was interested in listening.
Rainbow slammed her hooves onto the table top and leaned forward, starting Raindrops eyeball to eyeball. “You better watch what you’re talking about! Just because I don’t have a stick up my rump like you doesn’t mean you’re a better weathermare.”
“It does when you wind up napping on a cloud somewhere instead of doing your job!”
“Hey, I always pull my weight! It’s not my fault I can do my job faster and better than a flying boulder like you!”
Surprise surprise, calling attention to Raindrop’s slower than average flying speed was not the way to win her over. “If being fast is so important,” Raindrops breathed between her clenched teeth. “How about I give you a boost by bucking your sorry rump all the way to—”
“Why don’t you two just bang already?!” Cloud Kicker interjected, successfully managing to not only derail the argument, but also sending their train of thought careening off its tracks and come crashing down off a very tall mountain and exploding upon impact with the ground. CK was good at what she did.
Raindrops felt her jaw idly hanging open at the thought, her eyes threatening to imitate Ditzy Doo’s as she tried to process what Cloud Kicker had said and the thought process that was behind it. “A buwah?”
Rainbow Dash, for her part looked at Cloud Kicker as if she’d forgotten that the other pegasus was there (which she likely had) and dreaded the prospective needling she was going to give her later if she didn’t nip this in the bud. “Kicker, for a pony born with wings, your mind spends a lot of time in the gutter.” She pronounced firmly. Surprisingly, Raindrops nodded in agreement.
Blossomforth snickered, then coughed to make it seem like she hadn’t. “So, um how about that weather? It isn’t going to make itself—if it did we’d be out of a job!” She giggled at the absurdity glad that the tension was…if not broken, then at least reduced.
Snorting and shooting Raindrops a dirty look, Rainbow Dash grumbled. “Yeah, whatever.” She pushed herself away from the table. “Clouds need to be cleared by the end of your shifts, you know the drill. See ya.” She flapped her wings once and sped off.
Raindrops—what a nag! If she didn’t know better she’d wonder if she had gone in Cloud Kicker’s place to Westhoof to have all the fun sucked out of her. Huh. Come to think of it, Cloud Kicker HAD gone and was still a lot of fun. Whatever.
“Rainbow Dash! Hey Rainbow Dash!” She looked down to see Pinkie Pie waving at her from the ground. Rainbow slowed, lowering herself to the ground. “Whatcha doing?”
The pegasus tossed her head. “Eh, just clearing up some clouds. What’s up?”
“I just came from seeing Applejack cuz the Cakes needed some apples—the fruits not the ponies since I don’t think ponies taste that good—and Applejack was all shivery and sneezy which is funny cuz it’s still summer and I was wondering if had somehow became winter and then I thought of a great idea for having a snowball fight in the middle of—”
“Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow Dash shouted. The pink pony blinked.
“Oh, right, sorry! Applejack was all cold and wet and then she said that you pulled some sort of practical joke on her.” She frowned, her lower lip jutting out in a pout as she lowered her ears and looked up with wide puppy-dog eyes. “I love playing pranks Rainbow Dash…why didn’t you ask me to join you?”
She rubbed her head to ward off an oncoming headache. “It was a spur of the moment thing Pinkie.”
“So…” Pinkie gave a little bounce. “Do you wanna go pranking with me now?”
“Well, I have to clear away the clouds from the farm…” Rainbow started when she was hit by another Pinkie pout. She sighed. “Hnng…fine.”
Pinkie’s face immediately lit up into a wide smile. “Great! Oooh! I got just the thing!” She tugged on Rainbow Dash’s leg. “Follow me!” Rolling her eyes gently, Rainbow let herself be dragged along as the excitable pink pony eagerly explained her proposed prank. Rainbow felt herself smile.
A few minutes later Rainbow Dash was knocking on the door of the library. The door opened to reveal Twilight Sparkle. “Oh, hello Rainbow Dash.”
“Hey Twi.” The rainbow pony tossed her mane out of her eyes. “You busy?”
“Uh, no. Come on in.” She stepped aside to let Rainbow in. “Is there something you want?”
Rainbow nodded as she walked in. “Yeah. I was looking to see if you had any books on, uh, the history of the weather service?”
The purple unicorn beamed, clapping her hooves together joyfully. “Of course! You want to find out more about your work? I’ve been meaning to do some reading up on it myself…” She trotted over to the shelves. “I’m so happy to see that you’re doing some independent research! Just be sure not to forget about your assignment—we’re going over that study of pre-Classical era conjurers together and I’ll be asking you about what you’ve learned.”
Rainbow Dash shuddered. She had learned more than she ever wanted to about Star Swirl the Bearded’s life and dietary habits. If Twilight tried to also make him the focus of their biographical studies again Rainbow was going to hurl.
Still, the point was to keep Twilight distracted for a few minutes. She waved through the window at the eager face of Pinkie. The pink pony grinned and came in the open door, sneaking by the studious unicorn without a peep as Twilight examined the bookshelf. “So, Rainbow Dash, how are you liking it here in Ponyville?”
“It’s cool…you?”
Twilight nodded. “Everypony here is so friendly! And I get to live in a…library!” She gave a fillyish squeal and a little hop of joy. At Rainbow’s expression of bemusement, Twilight coughed, coloring slightly. “A heh heh, well…It has been a bit of a transition. Shining Armor still writes a lot, that really helps.” She paused. “You?”
She nodded. “Yeah…”
“You…okay?” Twilight asked gently. “You and Shining Armor I mean.”
Rainbow sighed and repeated herself. “Yeah…it’s cool. I mean, he’s—” She paused, searching for the right words. “He’s your brother and…I kinda like the idea that he’d be mine too.” She blushed.
“Awww…” Twilight smiled. “That’s so sweet!”
A flush of red scorched Rainbow Dash’s cheeks. “Shhhh! Keep it down!” She hissed, looking from side to side.
Twilight gave her a look. “Come on, it’s not like there’s anypony else here!” She gave her friend a hug. “You’re always welcome here, if you ever want a change of scene—not that there’s anything wrong with living with Ditzy and Dinky I mean.” She added hurriedly. “But if you ever wanted to I—”
“I got the idea.” Rainbow flexed her wings idly. “I also wanted to say thanks for moving to Ponyville with me. It made it easier to go through all this stuff with somepony going through it with me.” She paused. “You tell anypony I said that, I’ll deny it.”
“Your secret’s safe with me.” A book floated over, surrounded in a purple haze of magic. “Here’s your book on the weather service. Let me know how you find it!”
Out of the corner of her eye Rainbow Dash spied Pinkie discretely making her way down the stairs, slinking along the walls and—okay, seriously how could she flatten herself against the wall THAT much?
Twilight looked at Rainbow curiously. “Are you alright? You’re acting kind of weird.”
“Huh? Sorry.” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “It’s nothing. Thanks again.” She paused. “By the way, Ditzy was thinking of asking you about giving Dinky magic lessons. She’s starting to get to the age where unicorns are taught right?”
Stars lit up in Twilight’s eyes at the prospect of doing even more teaching and educating. She rubbed her hooves together and did a little happy dance. “I still have all my magic for beginner books with me! This is so exciting!” She let out a little gasp as she paced to and fro, missing Pinkie’s subtle exit from the library. “I need to go make up a list of appropriate books and set up a schedule! I’ll have to catch you later Rainbow Dash!” There was a flash of light and Twilight was gone, teleported up the stairs Pinkie had just come down.
As Rainbow Dash left the library she heard a massive thundering blast of flatulence. Ppppppppppthhhhhhhhhhhhhrrrrrrrrrrrpppppppp-p-p! Ppphhhhrrrppp! The leaves of the tree shook as the echo reverberated across town, so loud that some thought it might have been heard in distant Canterlot. Rainbow Dash quickly made her exit as she heard the angry yell of a mortified lavender unicorn as she discovered the whoopee cushion placed on her seat.
“PIINKIIIIE PIE! RAINBOW DAAAAASH!!!!”
& & &
Now stop distracting me and let me do my essay
Ehh i was already doing something else. Gotta go find more distractions now
i.imgur.com/on0uZ.gif
You know Raindrops does kind of have a point, Rainbow did get the job before the ponies that have been working the skies above Ponyville for a lot longer.
Of course... discrete whoopie cushion of significant size.
Wait a minute! Ditzy was a weatherpony for how many years and it took this long for Cloud Kicker to take an interest?
PINKIE
PINKIE HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT
Excuse me bu good colt, but did that treebrary just pass wind in our general direction?
Not a huge fan of Raindrops here. She seems to be bringing too much personal distaste for Dash's personality, lacking professional detachment.
your
mine
I think that "that" should be an "about".
1402998
Dragonshy could always be remastered into a story about Spike.
1404045
Celestia's pupil and daughter by all but blood is looking for a job on the weather team, and there just so happens to be a manager slot available. She's got the aforementioned backing of royalty and the skills necessary for the position a dozen times over. What pony in their right mind would deny her that conveniently open managerial position?
1404215
You got that half-right. Ditzy Do was the weather manager or chief weather pony (I use the terms interchangably). When Rainbow Dash moved in, Ditzy was promoted upstairs to a job that involves more paperwork and less actual weather work (which given her clutzy streak is probably for the best).
I should mention that in my story she (Ditzy) didn't take somepony else's job away, more like they separated out the duties of a normal weather manager (physically managing the weather and writing the reports) which in my view would normally be a simple thing. But since Ponyville is right next to the Everfree with its uncontrollable weather, I'd say that writing weather reports takes up more time and responsibility than it would in another town. Probably enough that it would warrant its own position. So Ditzy got a promotion to deal mostly with that stuff and Rainbow got the weather managing job.
1404215 it's still got to burn to see a 'rising new star' outpace you if you've been putting in the hours. It sounds like the parable of the Prodigal Son.
1404485
Agreed. If I was in Raindrop's place I might look for a better position elsewhere. Scratch that, I was in Raindrop's place and that is exactly what I did and am better for it. Right now the weatherteam is being led by a pony with no management experience who didn't work her way through the system. Raindrop has a legit beef. Maybe she should got back to the Lunaverse where she is an element of harmony.
1404526 I hadn't considered that but you are right. Management skills - REAL management skills, not what they tell you in an MBA program, require time spent working with others - something we're seeing Rainbow has a little problem with.
This is going to take mucho Love and Tolerance to turn out well.
1404105 Who said she got an interest just now? :P
1404546 Perhaps I'm assuming that Cloud Kicker hasn't tried to go after Ditzy, despite her apparent attraction to anything that moves, and then some.
1404148 I don't follow. Dragonshy had Fluttershy momentarily ignore her crippling fear of adult dragons to let out her inner , and if I remember correctly, canon Fluttershy was so fascinated by the cute baby dragon that she listened intently as he told her his life story.
LOL, love the whoopee cushion part! and i really like this story too.
On one hand, I can see why Raindrops here is unhappy at Dash's Cavelir adittude and getting a job without going through the ranks. On the other, Dash has studied under their primary ruler, is a better candidate for the posistion, and saved the world from an eternal night that would have surely killed them all, Raindrops included.
So did Dash really just blow off her afternoon weather duties to go pranking with Pinkie? That's not going to go over very well with Raindrops.
I can understand Raindrops's point of view, but at the same time, I don't think she needed to make a big deal out of it.
Still, nice chapter. Happy writing
1404680
Well, it could be that Cloud Kicker just decided that Ditzy was off limits on account of Ditzy being her direct superior. Most workplaces don't look all that fondly on the manager and an employee banging, since it can lead to all kinds of trouble and potential for misconduct. But now that Ditzy's not her direct superior anymore...
Kinda have to agree with the others that Raindrops has a legitimate grievance about Rainbow's handling of the job and general attitude, but she could probably find a better way to deal with it than constant sniping at her new boss.
Have to love how Cloud Kicker handled the conflict resolution.
I wish my read later list wasn't a mile long! I'll definitely get to this either tonight or tomorrow!
This chapter was rather well designed, and it's obviously good because of it. However, I found 2 errors in it. My Grammar Nazi side won't let up, so I grabbed the errors and figured out how to correct them.
"Its" is bad grammar here, and the sentence doesn't flow very well. This is probably best written like "I feel like in the pursuit of a good bang, it's worth a little risk." If you wanted too, you could also add in a comma between "like" and "in", but that extra comma is optional.
This seems like two separate sentences merged together, as "that really helps." could easily be a sentence of its own. Try writing it like "Shining Armor still writes a lot, which really helps", or something like "At least Shining Armor writes a lot." and cut out the "it really helps" part.
My tip? Get a pre-reader. They help a lot and usually catch errors like that before they get spread throughout the comments.
1405024
Wait I don't understand how, helping five other ponies save the world makes her a better candidate to manage a weather team than Raindrops? A managers job is to delegate and manage, just because RD can clear the skies faster doesn't make her deserving of the position. And having Celestia pull strings for you doesn't help her case ether, smells of the good old boy network. In real life, if you save someone or the world(whatever) you get a medal and maybe a nice check, and that's it.
1404680
Greed growth.
Could play on the original introductions instead of the strategies from Dragonshy.
AJ tries to feed him, Pinkie Tries to throw a surprise party outside his cave, He just ends up collecting their food and decoration.
Rarity doesn't want to take his hoard because it's just random junk, but Spike collects her.
Dash doesn't kick him, she tries to save Rarity revealing that the dragon doesn't have wings.
Shy's stare might not work through the greed.
Twi is nearly as shy as 'Shy in this universe, and she might actually know enough about Dragons to recognize Greed Growth.
And then bittersweet reunion.
my first thought when i saw this: HOLY SWEET MOTHER OF JESUS CHRIST
1406147 Oh, so just lump Dragonshy with Secrets of My Excess.
1406223
Yeah. But with Twi as the primary resolution, not rarity or Shy.
I'm pretty much 100% for Raindrops. While her attitude is understandable, it's not professional, but neither is Dash's, and she's the leader. I get the feeling something's gonna come up that Dash has no idea how to handle, or at least I hope so.
1402563
She and Cloud Kicker -
- Oh God.
Oh God.
I just had an image pop into my head.
Captain Jack Harkness and Cloud Kicker meet.
Oh God.
BWAAHAHAHAHA! Epic prank!
RD + Pinkie = SUPREME VICTORY
4.bp.blogspot.com/_SDTI3ndhTOo/TKgnQJbxnRI/AAAAAAAAAAw/uG4McmL9OoA/s1600/Tealdeer.gif
for now
1406099
Look at it this way; Say it's back in the early 1700s, and you, a noble, save the king's life. In that form of government, you'd get any job you like. In modern governments, you could save the world from nuclear devistation, and in five years be out on the streets. Which form is Equestria going to follow?
1406805
Not sure, considering Equestria is some sort of weird hybrid, but maybe we are over thinking this.
1406301
Hmm... if Gilda showed up, do you think CK would make a pass at her? What am I saying? That shouldn't even be a question!
1406826
No, no it shouldn't. STOP PUTTING IDEAS IN MY HEAD!!!!
1406886
Too late, it has wormed its way in there like in Wrath of Khan! Muhaahaaha! The idea will never leave till its written.
1406226 But wait. Without some contrived butterfly effect resulting from this timeline, there's no reason that the dragon from Dragonshy wouldn't choose that cave to sleep in anyway... unless you want greedy growth spurt Spike to tell him to piss off.
Shouldn't that be "appealingly"?
1405903
Yeah, you should definitely put this at the top. There's so much win from all of our favorite characters in this story.
Gah, I cannot believe I forgot to hit the favorite button after reading the last chapter.
Anyways, this chapter was once again fantastic. Cloud Kicker continues to be hilarious, and it is good to see that Rainbow and Pinkie have discovered their mutual interest in practical jokes in time to add Trixie to the mix. I also like how you are setting Twilight up to be a magic tutor for Dinky because that is definitely not something Cherilee can teach her, although I doubt it will ever be a major plot point.
1406805
That form of favoritism was actually a problem because nobles would get positions for which they were woefully under qualified for, leading to situations were the peasantry were little better than toys to those in power because they didn't have the right mindset to be in a position of influence.
1409635
But Equestria is known to be a monarchy (or maybe a diarchy, we're not exactly clear on how much power Luna has), and as we've never heard any mention of a parliament or elections or such, we can only assume that it's an absolute monarchy of some kind.
Meaning that, for better or worse, Equestria is probably a society wherein that kind of favoritism takes place. Having said that, I'm going to assume that Celestia is wise enough a ruler thanks to being at least 1,000 years old that she knows how to put the right ponies in the right place even if she plays favorites.
1410060
It's not quite the same as the real world because Equestria's led by a pony who is apparently immortal as opposed to increasingly inbred and isolated nobles raised to look down on poor people as if they're scum. Celestia also doesn't seem to have much of a family outside of Luna (we don't have an explicit answer on Blueblood and Cadance's relation to them outside of what Lauren Faust said) so there isn't much of a royal family to fill governing roles like in the real world meaning that those roles have to be filled somehow. Most likely they're appointed positions in some form, and as you said it's a safe bet that Celestia learned long ago that handing positions to people just because they're friends is a bad idea and has instituted policies to mitigate the problem.
1404146
pinkie licks, it's totally canon
So this will be like Griffon the Brush-off and Boast Busters in one? Or will you continue all the episodes but from a different perspective?
Okay, CK and blossom forth are reminding me of diary if a winning pony
The antics of Cloud Kicker and Blossomforth are so good. And this
I LOVE this story.
CK has reach, BF has flexibility.
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1406301 Captain Jack meets Cloud Kicker they cancel each other out either that or the obvious happens they bang each other
1406223 Wait........ That's perfect! Trinary Please make that happen that way we can have Spike just have spike be the Dragon from Dragonshy and Twilight be the solution it's perfect!
Cloud Kicker you kill me! Oh god you're hilarious! I wonder how the Discord two parter would play out here?
Cloud Kicker you kill me! Oh god you're hilarious! I wonder how the Discord two parter would play out here?
And you just became aware of this now?!
I doubt she cares...
... Oy!
I like you!
Not gonna happen, sadly.
Yeah, rub it in the faces of all us non-library living folk, why don't'cha?