Argyle Starshine returns to Maretime Bay, surprising Sunny and her friends who were under the impression that he was dead! Understandably, Sunny is thrilled to be reunited with her father. Izzy Moonbow is happy, too, but can't shake the feeling that something is off about Argyle. And when Sunny begins acting abnormal, Izzy's concerns only grow.
Written for the Generation 5 Bingo Writing Contest. My prompts were: Argyle, Izzy, G1/2/3 Character, Maretime Bay and Changelings
You can find other entries in the contest here.
Chapters (1)
This was honestly a pretty good read. Loved seeing Sunny's dad even if he wasn't real. It touched my heart and I liked it.
And also, he's, like, the sheriff, so who would report him?
I can imagine Hitch being that goody-two-shoes that would report himself, though.
Seriously though, beautiful story. An incredible synthesis of G4 lore and G5 lore. When Sunny brought magic back to Equestria, it seems like it went two ways: good magic came back, but harmful magic also came back (in the form of parasitic changelings). Magic I think was poorly portrayed in the G5 movie, because it's not just this all-benevolent force that turns Equestria into a utopia. It is like a powerful tool/weapon that's tricky to control for good (Discord comes to mind). Perhaps that's why the ponies between G4 and G5 (the "inter-gen ponies", if you will) decided to abandon or otherwise get rid of magic. That being said, I love the happy ending and how the magic of sharing and friendship won in the end.
Amber's introduction and eventual reformation was a little rushed, but I guess you were working with a word count limit.
Also, Sunny, marry Izzy! Marry that Ponka-corn!
She literally saved your life with that power of hers. She'll make a fine wife (and bodyguard).
Honestly this is the first "serious" G5 story that has really left a deep impression on me. Well done, and best of luck in the judging.
**This is a bit nitpicky and a matter of personal preference, but I would suggest putting a photo of your Bingo card in the ending author's note, covered with a spoiler. That way you have to read the whole story before seeing the prompt, and also you get a nice visual instead of plain text.
This... really hits me where I live
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The way I saw it, it wasn't reformation. Amber was a mostly good being, being forced to do something horrible or let her children die...
I like how there were no real villains in this story... Amber was just trying to save her children/species, after all. But what really interests me is the way you portrayed Phyllis. Sure, she and Argyle did not see eye-to-eye, in fact you could even say they were enemies in a sense. And yet, Sunny stilled called her 'Aunt Phyllis,' she still cried when Argyle died, and she even volunteered to let Sunny live with her for a while. It's barely even mentioned in the story and yet it makes it Phyllis' character so much more realistically complicated.
That was an intriguing and creative story with a neat idea! I thought it would turn out a lot darker but the ending was actually really bittersweet. Great work, I enjoyed reading this.
Also, I love how the title of the story is still accurate whether or not you take the plot twist into account.
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I wanted to add some more scenes of Phyllis and expand on her relation with Argyle but, sadly, 10k word limit
Essentially, my headcanon for those two is that they were once best friends as foals, despite his insistence that the three tribes used to be friends. She would be like Hitch at the start of the film: playing along with him even if she thought it was nonsense. But as they got older and went through middle/high school, she realised associating with him was dangerous to her own social life and so they drifted apart.
You remember that line Hitch said to Sunny after the Canterlogic show? "I'm the only friend you've got left. You really wanna lose me too?" I like to imagine Phyllis gave Argyle that same ultimatum, but in their case there was no magical adventure that proved Argyle was right and ended in the three tribes being reunited.
I think a line that gets overlooked in the movie is when Phyllis asks Argyle to 'start acting like an Earth Pony', following it up with 'for her sake'. What she's saying is obviously wrong but she's saying it because she thinks it's best for Sunny.
He's not very good at... lots of things ,but I think he's onto something with this idea.
Well, that was incredibly moving. Hit me right in the proverbial feels. Great to see a new fic from you. :)
Izzy is bilingual: she speaks Equish, and facts.
Somehow I imagine her saying this in David Tennant's voice for some reason.
I hope something like this happens in either the special or the TV Series. :)
Cause after all..... I highly think that Argyle isn't dead at all. ^^
Ay, not bad. Kinda up and down in plot quality, but it really kinda works.
You can has review!
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Thanks mate
I'll be honest I totally forgot the winners were gonna get reviews, so this was a nice surprise to come home to XD
This was so cute