the Jingle of a Tambourine
“It’s smaller on the outside,” Staghorn commented upon entering the blue box of Ponyville’s resident Time Turner. “I’m guessing it’s something of a temporal rift, folding space so that it can contain more, like a bag of holding?”
Doctor Whooves stared at the prince in amazement. “Wow, right the first time! The only pony to figure it out that fast was Ditzy! How did you guess?”
“My great-grandpa Thromnumbular was a powerful witch. He enchanted certain parts of the castle with a spell similar to this.”
“Fascinating! Do you think I could meet him?”
“He’s been dead for 30 years.”
Doctor Whooves was shocked. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t…”
“Later today.”
“What?”
“You can meet him later today. He found a way to become a lich, but he bungled the spell, so now he’s just a ruby-eyed changeling skull until he grants nine wishes.”
“What?”
Stag smiled. “It’s complicated, but I’m sure he can tell you all about it.”
The changeling turned and walked out the door of the Temporal Auditor’s Random Displacement Integration Ship, a gift from Princess Celestia which allowed the Doctor to travel between past and present-day Equestria.
A pink mare with a purple-and-white-swirled mane, a propeller beanie, and a cutie mark of a ball and a screw came down out of the sky.
“!rotcoD ,iH,” Screwball exclaimed happily. “?gniog ti s’woH”
“Screwball, please talk normally. I’ve just been given a headache.”
“Sorry. What’s up?”
“A lot of confusing things. I have research to do.” Rearing on his back legs, he pointed a forehoof dramatically into town. “TO THE LIBRARY!”
Then he was off.
Screwball shrugged and just giggled at the sheer CHAOS of it all. She decided to go visit her dad, the propeller on her beanie spinning, carrying her in the direction of Canterlot.
...
Pinkie had been up all night pulling the covered wagon. It was hard work, but she could be as strong as Applejack when she needed.
As if to prove this point to an unknown observer, she stopped in front of a large rock that was directly between her and her goal. Unhitching herself from the wagon, she turned and kicked the rock with the strength that could only come from a fillyhood of being raised on a rock farm. The boulder shattered into many tiny bits. She turned her head and gave a smile that said “See?” though why she did this was unknown, as there was nothing around besides her, the grass, the trees, and the crickets. She hitched herself back up to the wagon and continued pulling towards the large castle beyond Sweet Apple Acres.
...
Pinkie looked at the massive castle. On closer inspection, she realized that it honestly more resembled a complex of different interconnected buildings rather than a single dwelling. It was a feat of engineering that could honestly only compare to Canterlot itself.
Pinkie walked inside. She had spent the past couple weeks watching the changelings, observing them, learning their daily patterns, and even managing to pick up the meanings of certain words that made up that weird language of theirs, namely Happy, fun, and celebration. How did she find the time to do all this? That itself was part of the mystery that was Pinkie Pie.
No changelings confronted her. That didn’t surprise her, as she knew most of the changelings were either out doing various jobs in Ponyville and Cloudsdale, attempting to find a job, were taking care of jobs in other areas of the castle, or were simply out enjoying the beautiful weather.
She passed a building with three words: 死のアリーナ. Pinkie couldn’t claim to be able to read changeling, but her itchy spine told her there was something in there she did NOT want to meet. She hurried past. A worker changeling came down and confronted her.
“What are you doing here?” The question was genuine, as while ponies were allowed to visit the castle, it was an uncommon occurrence, meaning this was the first time it had happened.
Pinkie smiled. “Hi! I remember you!”
The changeling, Mirror, stood shocked as she suddenly remembered the mare in front of her.
...
NINE WEEKS AGO… CANTERLOT…
Mirror growled at the pink earth pony in front of her, changing into the pony’s five other friends in quick succession. The mare simply smiled ad jumped up and down.
“Do me! Do me!” she giggled.
Mirror rolled her eyes and changed into an exact duplicate of the earth pony.
There was a moment of silence.
“Eh, I’ve seen better,” the mare said before grabbing her purple unicorn friend and using her magic to blast Mirror.
…
THE PRESENT… THE CHANGELING CASTLE…
“Listen, I’m really sorry that it took this long to greet you but it’s just that I’ve been so busy trying to find out what you all like and planning something this big takes so much time to prepare and I just wanted to make sure that this turns out perfectly and I’m sorry for blasting you with Twilight’s magic…” Pinkie took a long breath. “Where’s the ballroom?”
Mirror stared, trying to make sense of what she had heard. She was pretty sure she had heard an apology in there somewhere. She pointed to a large building labeled 王宮.
“Okie Dokie Lokie!” Pinkie hopped off.
Mirror stood confused in the street.
...
In the library of the main castle was a single changeling, the eldest child of Queen Chrysalis.
Her name was Hope, and she was the most beautiful changeling in the castle, for she was a Goldmane, a changeling with a long golden mane and tail, amber-colored eyes, and wings which were tinted a soft yellow. She sighed and checked her list, looking over the shelves.
“Sometimes I wish I could have some time off. It’s not like I don’t want to be Mom’s advisor, but it just gets so boring sometimes! Stag gets to go off and mingle, and I…,” she stopped, pulling out two books and rotating them so the spines were facing the right way, “…get stuck doing filing duty. It’s not that I want to be a queen, but I expected more…,” her thought was cut off as there was a loud, squeaky BOOM! that came from the direction of…
“THE BALLROOM!” Hope screamed, her mane becoming disheveled, several hairs sticking out. She flew down the myriad hallways and staircases, stopping in front of a picture of her grandmother Thorax in the Hall of Rulers, pulling down a torch, opening a secret entrance, and continuing down the passageway at breakneck speed.
...
Pinkie blinked. She had managed to cover most of the ballroom walls in cake batter. Looking at her party cannon, she suddenly giggled.
“Silly me, that was the wrong cannon!”
She pulled the “correct” cannon out of her wagon, deciding the walls would just be an extra surprise. She took aim…
…Just as a secret passage opened, revealing the form of Hope. The changeling mare looked around the ballroom, her eyes landing on Pinkie, who had stopped herself from firing at the last second. Pinkie smiled nervously.
“Umm… surprise?”
Hope shook with unrequited anger.
“Do you know how long it took me to make sure this room would be ready for the Great Meeting in three days?” she began. “Your Princesses will be attending, along with the leaders of the five Great Swarms, and that Princess Cadance. This entire ballroom cost over FOUR MILLION YEN to build, and YOU HAVE MANAGED TO RUIN OVER 38 HOURS WORTH OF WORK WITH CAKE BATTER! DO YOU PONIES EVER THINK ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES YOUR ACTIONS WILL HAVE!?!”
There was a deflating noise and a small sniffle. Hope’s eyes widened at the sudden transformation that had come over the pink earth pony. Her anger fell with a speed equal to the deflation of Pinkie's mane Hope's anger dissipated. Happiness flowing out from that mare was one of most depressing sights she had ever seen.
“I… I’m sorry… I didn’t…,”
Pinkie turned away. Hope then had a brilliant idea. She dashed off to her room.
...
Pinkie looked up when she heard the sound of a tambourine. Standing before her was Hope, dressed in a green bandana, several bangles around her front legs, and holding a beautiful silver tambourine with her magic. She smiled.
“I used to sing this song to my brother whenever he was sad. Let’s see if I still remember it…”
She began striking the instrument against her flank. Then, she began to sing:
“When you’re rife with devastation,
There’s no other explanation,
You’re a toymaker’s creation
Trapped inside a crystal ball!
And whichever way he tilts it,
Know that we must be resilient,
They can never break our spirits
As we sing this silly song!”
She began to hop around, her bangles clicking together. Pinkie began to smile. Hope continued.
“Sometimes I just want to be silly
Hop around like I’m still a filly,
But I have to work and sort the files,
But it’s worth it just to see some smiles.
And though my legs are full of holes,
I dance around with the little foals,
And though my memories are blurred,
And names are obscured,
I still know the words to this song!”
Pinkie had recovered and was dancing as Hope fluttered above her, and both began to sing, Pinkie somehow knowing the words:
“When you’ve bungled all your bangles,
And your good mood’s left to dangle,
Listen to the jingle-jangle
Of this silver tambourine!
‘Cause these chords are hypnotizing,
And the whole world’s harmonizing..”
Pinkie cut in and finished the song.
“Well now that I’ve stopped my crying,
Let’s go set up the Party!”
Hope looked at her.
“Is that what this is about?”
“Yeah! I always welcome everypony to Ponyville, and since there were so many of you I needed a lot of time to prepare, making cakes and games and invitations, and I wanted a way to also say I’m sorry for beating you guys up at the wedding and it takes time to plan a party that big and mph mph mph!”
Hope had covered Pinkie’s mouth. She quickly changed into a white unicorn mare (resembling Fleur di Lis) with an electric blue mane and a book cutie mark. She smiled.
“I’ll help you, but I think we should get to know each other first. My name’s Hope.”
Pinkie smiled. “I’m Pinkie Pie. It’s sooooo good to meet you!”
Hope smiled. “Well, it’s nice to meet you too. Now let’s get this party ready! You know, my mother was a lot like you when I was younger…”
The two continued a steady banter as they began to set up the decorations.
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Here is one of biggest lack of description, you should write more than just "Her anger dissipated".
I dunno something like that:
"Her anger decreased with with equal speed like puffiness of Pinkie mane, she just can't stand that sight. Happiness flowing out from that mare was one of most depressing sight what can ever be."
Heh yea i know my grammar is tragic, but look how one short description highlights that specific and i can say important (because its trigger to behavior change) scene/though.
Good side of that story was randomness of Mirror encounter.
I don't know what to think about that Lichs grandpa, i know you wanted to make reader "wat?" but just ... i dunno
2158482 Fixed! and the grandpa will come into play at a later date, so it's not just a "what?" moment. Thank you for being descriptive! Don't be afraid to tell me what you think of my blog as well!
2158545
It was only proposition to show difference xD
2158578 I'm just glad you don't hold back on the critique. Keep up the good work!
Also, does the price of the ballroom seem like enough? because it's fairly fancy.
I imagine the Equestrian bit to equal about one American dollar, and if the quid equals 5X the bit... well, you do the math.
100 VIEWS!?!
YES! I CAN FINALLY DO SOMETHING STUPID I WON"T BE ABLE TO DO AGAIN UNTIL I GET 100 FOLLOWERS!
[youtube=w3EagFXLx3Y]
Sorry about that... it won't happen again until I get 100 followers.
Okay, I really liked Hope and your alteration of "The Gypsy Bard" was epic! I love FiW!
2166698 Well i'm glad! As for FiW, the songs are okay, but I can honestly take it or leave it. Sorry!
References to random fics and pony-stuffs I've read keep appearing.
I almost never abandon reading a story that isn't absolute garbage—and while this story has many faults I think that would be going too far—but I just can't continue. It's too much of a slog for me. I feel like there's a potentially good story in here but trying to find it is, for me at least, like that clip of Sideshow Bob stuck in rakes:
Good luck on the series. Hopefully your later ones are better, but skipping ahead always makes me uncomfortable.
8951260 I appreciate your honesty. I would do MANY things differently if i was writing this fic today.
The simple fact is i rushed it, and i don't have an excuse for that beyond inexperience, and I apologize.
The word witch refers to a woman with magical abilities and therefore is incorrectly used here. A more fitting word would be warlock which means the same thing but instead refers to males.
10654271 In anthropological terminology, witches differ from sorcerers not in gender, but in that they don't use physical tools or actions to use magic.
Historically there have in fact been men accused of being "witches", and the idea of witches being exclusively female is a relatively modern one.
Death Arena
['bɔːlruːm] and ['ɔːkjuː]
Still quite didn't grasp the idea of Changelings speaking Japanese...
Edit: I misunderstood greatly. Geez.