Sometimes the best stories come from the most unlikeliest of encounters.
In 'Rich in Flowers, Unlucky in Love', one of the flower girls struggles with her growing feelings for a customer, suffering as she watches him stumble into romantic disaster after disaster.
In 'Perspective', Pony Joe shares with one of his customers a tried-and-tested method for resolving a Code Sparkle(otherwise known as a pre-test meltdown).
In 'Late to Class', Lemon Hearts is quite excited to be filling in for an injured professor... until an unexpected student appears in her roster.
And in 'Historical Inaccuracy' Sunny and Zipp go on a scavenger hunt through history to answer a pressing question: is it even possible for one of Sunny's ancient heroes to have had an extramarital affair?
These four stories were written as part of the Quills and Sofas 'May Pairings' contest, where prompts were given matching ponies that didn't have much of a chance to interact onscreen. It was quite fun and challenging. Pre-reading help provided by the Quills and Sofas participants, as well as horsetorian and Celestilune.
(Tags are for brief mentions of alcohol consumption and discussion of an extramarital affair)
(Reads description)
That would be... most unlikely/least likely
Rose is the best wingmare.
Somehow not the first story with this pair I've read:
- MLP: FiM
- Drama
Sometimes life takes you where you least expect--this is just as true for Lemon Hearts as it is for Princess Luna.11849671
Yup, that one was written for the very same contest!
Flash Magnus blinked, took a long draught of cider, and ran the idea back through his head. “She got you to actually court somepony?”
Stygian sighed. The Pillar of Bravery never feared making an ass of himself. “I was doing rather well on my own, but yes.”
Flash turned to Rockhoof. “Think we have room for another pony? That’s got to qualify as a deed worthy of song.”
The earth stallion nodded. “The skalds’ve done more with less.”
“I’m right here. I can hear every word you’re saying.”
“We’re not besmirchin’ the lass’s honor, lad, and we’re both happy for you. It’s just a bit of a shock.”
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Honestly, the part that's hardest for me to believe is Zipp having any degree of formal investigative training.
Great work in all of these. I'm always a sucker for rare character interactions and this collection had some truly delightful examples. Thank you for them.
All of these stories were great- although in the case of the last chapter, I'm a bit confused as to what the rare pairing was. It's common to see fics where members of the mane 5 interact, so it couldn't be Sunny and Zipp. However, when I googled 'dusty inkstain', it seemed to confirm he was an oc who didn't appear in other mlp stuff, so I'm not sure what else the rare pairing could have been.
When it comes to the actual plots of the stories, though, like I said, all of them were great, and I have zero advice to give to something that's already so well-written.
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The rare pairing prompt for the last chapter was Shining Armor and Daring Do/AK Yearling. But I really wanted to write G5 so it occurred to me to write about Daring and Shining... from the lens of a future mystery. It turned out a lot better than I expected, and I really enjoyed writing it.
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Ah! Shining Armor and Daring Do is indeed a rare pairing, so now the inclusion of this chapter in the anthology suddenly makes sense. I had been so focused on the characters we were seeing in the story's present that I hadn't even CONSIDERED the odd pairing might focus on the historical figures seen only in ancient documents.
Thank you for taking the time to explain it to me!
Came from https://www.fimfiction.net/story/387377/213/never-the-final-word-vol-2/fomes-herculean-effort-applezombis-rich-in-flowers-unlucky-in-love
Wow! I was wondering who it is! Stygian! Huh. Cool!
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"“You read my journal?” Daisy shrieked, dropping the blossoms she’d been wrapping."
HA! Nice!
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Well, that's an interesting way to cut off the Rarity branch! Odd pairings anthology indeed.
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“Y-yes, Miss Scary Flower Lady.”
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Woo! Success!
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You can’t lie me, Daisy > You can’t lie to me, Daisy