The Snippet Series Season 1 Finale

by Casketbase77

The School Spirit

Stock Image surveyed the empty field as well as the happy but disinterested ponies slowly funneling back to their seats. Then she flicked her fog tail in defeat.

“I don’t think anypony is coming. Sorry girls, but the meet and greet looks like a bust.”

Lighthoof filled a cup of sweetened sports punch from a nearby cooler. It was her sixth in the past hour.

“We’ll, like, try to live with the disappointment Coach.” She, Stock, and the nearby snoozing Shimmy Shake were the only cheerleaders who’d stuck around after their routine in hopes of mingling with spectators who might approach and say hi.

“Halftime performers sure are treated differently than when they were when I was a foal,” Stock Image lamented. “You both signed up on such short notice and learned the routine so fast. Hoped at least somepony would notice.”

“Nah, don’t get glum Coach. Shim an’ me love doing freelance cheer jobs. Wouldja believe this is actually the second time we're randomly working for Rainbow Dash? The first was like… pfffft. Forever ago when she was still a prof at the School of Friendship.”

Stock Image looked slightly more at ease the more Lighthoof poured on the valley girl optimism. Slightly. Lighthoof decided to pour harder.

“The routine was easy too. Not like you’re a heavy teammate to toss around.”

Okay, that one earned a giggle from the undead ungulate. Lighthoof took a triumphant swig from her cup at having literally helped raise some school spirit.

“Guess we best start clearing our stuff out,” Stock Image suggested. “Even if the ‘bolts aren’t due back for awhile yet, we’re probably just embarrassing ourselves hanging around at this point.”

With her cup emptied and a sugar high pleasantly starting to kick in, Lighthoof got to work moving the cheer gear off the sidelines. After stacking the megaphones and placards in the correct cases, she gave the bench a gentle jiggle to rouse Shimmy Shake, who rolled over lethargically.

“Did nopony show up?” she slurred sleepily.

“Nopony showed up,” Stock sighed.

“Oh good. I mean… it’s good that I didn’t sleep through any souvenir pictures getting taken. Didn’t mean I think it’s good that there were no pics taken.”

Lighthoof cringed at her partner’s lack of emotional tact, but Stock Image just sighed again and began gathering pompoms in her translucent hooves. Scarce few props in the Wonderbolt storage room were light enough for Stock to interact with, but the paper pompoms were among them. Also among them was another item lying on a cloth in the grass. One that Lighthoof gently picked up and rewrapped to keep safe.

“Either of you find my camera?” Stock Image asked as she emptied her load of pompoms into a box Shimmy Shake held open for her.

“I got it,” Lighthoof reported, brandishing the bundle. “No worries Coach.”

“Sure sucks we didn’t get to use it,” came a comment from Shimmy Shake.

“Come off it girls,” Stock finally huffed. “I know you’re trying to commiserate with me, but stop trying to bait fate. Sitting- I mean, hovering around wishing for some fans to appear isn’t actually gonna make it happen.”

“Holy moly, Vitty! She really is a ghost! Just like you said she was!”

Consider the bait bitten, Lighthoof thought to herself as she and Shimmy smoothed their skirt pleats and put on their best showgirl grins to welcome the foal who’d just shouted. But even their practiced professionalism balked at the sight of an honest-to-Faust Princess speeding towards them.

Scratch that; the famous Flurry Heart actually sped past them along her beeline at Stock Image. The foal’s hoofguards apparently didn’t have very good traction on grass, given her attempt to stop simply saw her skid right through the stunned specter. Predictably though, the experience just served to energize her even more.

“I did it! I ghosted through a ghost! Aw-haw-haw, Dad’s gonna be so steamed that I went out and found two monster mares after he kicked me out of the house for the day! This is so way beyond cool.”

A pale kirin-esque creature (Flurry’s current chaperone, Lighthoof reasoned) trotted up. “Loud whinny on that wee tyke, isn’t there? Sorry for making such a raucous entrance, all.”

“Whaddya mean ‘sorry’? Are you even seeing this right now?” Shimmy Shake pushed her bangs out of her eyes happily. “Your little loudmouth is the best thing that’s happened to Stock Image all day.”

True to the cheerpony’s word, Flurry Heart was gesturing to Stock Image’s fog tail excitedly and saying something none of the observers could hear. What they did hear though was Stock Image’s reedy laugh as she pirouetted and elicted squeeing approval from Flurry applauded. Then they both waved Vitty over.

“...Tale of Maredusa, huh?” the specter was saying as Vitty trotted into earshot. “That’s going back a long way, but I think I actually did read that one when I was little. She marries the nice guard at the end of it, right?”

“La la la!” Flurry interjected as she clamped her wings over her ears. “Don’t ruin it for me.”

“H-hi Stock Image,” Vitty said softly as she patted Flurry’s head. “Thought I was the one most lured to meet ya today, but this here hanger-on has me beat, doesn’t she?”

“Can never have too many ponies at a meet n’ greet,” Stock Image replied. “Hope you don’t mind me asking, but was that Umbrum slang I just heard out of your muzzle? You must be from pretty far north. Hope you and Flurry didn’t come halfway across Equus just to meet silly old me.”

“Flurry did. In a manner of speaking. I m’self have actually been livin’ in this culchie town for a good spell. S’really just blind luck all three of us’re in the same spot today.”

“Or it’s fate.” Flurry chimed in. Vitty’s only response was another head pat.

“Well whatever it was that led you two out here today, I’m glad it did. Surprised it did though. Neither of you really look like sporty types.”

Vitty’s vermilion eyes twinkled as she looked past Stock’s spectral shoulder. “We’re not, but here comes somepony who is.”

“Look at the new friend I found while sniffing around the snack shack, everypony!”

Lightning Dust’s entrance wasn’t as loud as Flurry Heart’s, but it was somehow more embarrassing. Not for her of course, (she was strutting across the green looking as pleased as a pegasus could be), but for the curiously familiar Earth Pony trailing behind her. Stock Image found it almost laughable to see such a dead ringer for Rainbow Dash red-cheeked from having her presence announced. Then again, she could certainly empathize with getting stared at.

“Huh,” the Dash lookalike mumbled. “So these are your friends, Li?”

“If she says we are, we are,” Stock Image confirmed before addressing the Pegasus directly. “I remember you. You split from the Wonderbolts awhile back, right? How are you doing nowadays?”

Lightning Dust chuffed absently as she produced a bag of popcorn from under her wing. “I can say I'm doing better right now than I’ve ever been. Want some of this stuff?”

“No thanks. Carbs go right through me.”

Rainbow stood off to the side, not really part of the conversation but not really confident enough to break off from Lightning Dust. Vitty naturally came to her rescue.

“So what’s your story?” she asked.

“I’m not Rainbow Dash.”

“Yeh, figured you weren’t on account of Li’s gaffing. But take it from this chalky beast born from charcoal: it’s a rough feel to think on things you’re not rather than things you are.”

“Alright, fair enough. My name is Rainbow. Princess Twilight calls me an Equunculus, if that word means anything to you.”

“It does to me!” Flurry Heart announced before affecting the tone of a privately tutored junior aristocrat reciting from a memorized textbook.

“Clause eleven thirty-three of universal pony law states that any temporal duplicate, equunculus, form-locked changeling, or other derivative instance of an existing sentient creature may, upon completion of an aptitude test, be extended full citizenship rights and legal recognition that they are separate and autonomous of their Source.”

“Uh… sure,” Rainbow confirmed. “What Queen Junior said.”

FLASH!

The firing of a camera bulb caught the attention of all five ponies, whose collective attention settled on Shimmy Shake and Lighthoof. The two had taken advantage of being forgotten to fire up Stock Image’s polaroid camera and snap a candid capture of everyone. Even so, Lighthoof’s deer-in-headlights expression made it very clear she’d thought she’d disabled the light.

“Um…” she fumbled. “So much for a, like, natural-looking group shot.”

Stock Image recovered first. “Well if we absolutely have to pose for one of those… we should all at least scooch in.”

“Oh Tartarus,” Rainbow gulped. “Doesn’t the camera add ten pounds?”

“Only in the facial area,” Lightning promised as she stood tall next to her. “Just avoid showing teeth in your smile and you’ll look fine.”

“Sometimes when my picture gets took I blink,” Flurry warned. “We’ll do another if I blink during this one, right?” Nopony answered her.

“I tell ya Vitty, you run with some weird characters.” Stock whispered as everypony gathered around.

“Ha. Barbed remarks comin’ from the shtate who can't even run 'erself. Or comb her mane for a portrait. By the by, if I got red eye in the printed image, ya owe me five Bits.”

“Everypony got their one-liners out and done with?” Shimmy Shake called. “Good, cuz the Wonderbolts are due back in a few minutes. Gotta make this last shot count.”

Various smiles were donned by a motley crew happy to have met one another, even it was for just one afternoon.

FLASH!

Author's Note:

At last, the finale entry is done. Winston Churchill once said "Perfection is the enemy of progress," and was he right on the money because I must've drafted and scrapped the outline for this story a dozen times in the past few months.

A few of my ideas to converge the Snippet storylines were pretty bad, such as a courtroom case where the protagonists all lucked into jury duty together. A few were good but too narrow, such as having starving-artist Rainbow and closetedly creative Applejack run into one another at Pastel Prancy's Art Shop. Ultimately, this Wonderbolt halftime break premise was the most balanced and robust thing I could come up with.

It's not perfect, but with the exception of Idol none of the Snippets are. And for that matter, none of the five protagonists are perfect either. Every pony in that group shot has her own set of flaws, whether visible at a glance or hidden deeper in her individual personality. The daily effort of each to overcome those shortcomings is what makes all them so much fun to write about, and it’s my hope they were fun to read about too.

See you all next year for Snippets Season Two. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Comments

[anonymous browser]

Well, this is a great early Christmas present!

It was well worth the wait. Of all the ideas you put forward as drafts I agree the halftime show is the most natural.

Seeing how everyone's progressed was really good, but also still not perfect. Lightning parroting what her therapist has told her and blowing up at the poor pony at the concessions stand tells a lot without having to say much.

Flurry was the other standout for me, consiously playing the game to not behave like Twilight so she can indulge her Twilight tendancies is something I can imagine myself doing as a kid. Loved the sleepy hollow reference, especially Scootaloo being jumpy at it. I watched the film when I was around ten and it scared the pants off of me.

“... Tale of Maredusa , huh?” the specter was saying as Vitty trotted into earshot. “That’s going back a long way, but I think I actually did read that one when I was little. She marries the nice guard at the end of it, right?”

Has to be my favourite part there. Even as a story within a story it just makes me really happy for some reason.

Everyone else was great too and the chemistry worked really well, you've outdone yourself here.

[Casketbase77]

10595996

Vitty’s varying speech patterns were me having fun with POV shifts. You’re right that she’s meant to sound Scottish (Glaswegian specifically), but I also like having her lapse into twee mannerisms when the mood needs it. She makes an effort to speak plainly to comfort Flurry, but lapses into her “true” voice full of Gaelic slang when she’s nervously meeting Stock Image.

Umbrum in the comics never had any coherent ethnic theme (Sombra, Rabia, and Ira have Spanish, Arabic, and Jewish names respectively) so I decided to heck with it; I’ll add an English Islander to their mix.

10595888

I believe that under all the emotional issues and clinical egotism, Lightning Dust is a decent pony. She’s fully aware she doesn’t have herself completely together socially, which is why making friends with a clone of Rainbow Dash is such a big step: its a blatant attempt to start over and do things right this time. Whether or not she’s succeeding at it is open to interpretation.

Flurry meanwhile is meant to be a high strung kid who finds everything exciting (even stuff that is supposed to scare her). Big contrast to Scootaloo at that age, who spent an entire episode traumatized by a campfire story.

I always find child characters are hard to write because they risk acting too smart or too stupid to be believable in different situations. Still, I think I successfully made Flurry a ball of energy who finds different creative ways to channel herself throughout the fic.

[Thought Prism]

The work you put in certainly paid off. This was quite fulfilling, while also providing further development for all the characters involved. Still, speaking as someone with a fickle muse himself, sometimes it's easier to switch gears to another project than to force yourself to work on one in particular.

[Neece]

Had read only the Rainbow one before, saw this and read all the prequels - a well spent time.

This was cute and heartwarming, kudos! I can barely wait for the second season

[star1wars3]

Not much here but, it was adorable

[FanOfMostEverything]

Delightful stuff! Glad I finally read it. And the idea of Umbrum slang brings to mind Sombra ruling with an iron hoof and an impenetrable burr, and that is a fantastic mental image.

[stag the story teller]

If we don't see more of them in the upcoming season of the snippets we riot, right guys? Or at least more of the maredusa story.

[Comma Typer]

I need to stop snacking so much and start working out like she does.

Ever since I read that line, I stopped taking midnight snacks. Granted, that was yesterday, so...

Humor aside, this was a good ending to your snippets as of, well, the time you published this story. I honestly don't have much to say that hasn't been said here already, and I also haven't read all of the fics that are required reading for this one (I'm missing Cover to Cover and Idol), ironically the most highly rated ones), but it's indeed nice to see these characters' arcs tied up well.

But the one I liked the most was Rainbow's little story: While you aren't obligated to provide a clean ending for everyone here, Rainbow still ends up with having made the most progress during this finale (with Lighting Dust still having a long way to go on the road to recovery, and Vitty and Stock Image having made lots of progress before the finale began; Flurry is an unknown to me, though), from having her optimism around through being under a lot of stress and questioning herself all the way to making a stand to establish her unique identity... all in one chapter to boot. The other chapters feel like closure for their respective characters, but this one, with some tweaking and a few more hundred words, can really stand out as its own short story.

Oh, and it's nice to see all of them interact with each other. That alone is fun chemistry!

Thank you for the story, and great job!

[Clopian26]

This is such a good little story

[Kendallonian]

I just read through the entirety of Season 1 so I could read this story. I must say, each and every character in here is fun to read and adorable, and I'm glad I took the time to go through it.

Maybe I'll try to write more stories about ponies trying to overcome their flaws...

[Casketbase77]

[Green-Venom]

I’m brand new to this, so trying to figure out what I need to read first before coming here is extremely complex, but overall worth it…

Nevertheless I kinda wish it was easier. 😅

[Green-Venom]

Nice roundup. I can say that you did well here…

[Paaaad]

Upstream error on the closing image.

[6-D Pegasus]

11672544
"We're not flawless!
We're works in progress,
So tell me what flaws you got too.
Cause I still like what's flawed about you."