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3 July 2015: 2pm: My Little Pony: Friendship is a Fiasco

Phredd Groves had seen a playset for My Little Pony, and had some disagreements about it. So, he tweaked it and brought his version to DexCon. We started out with five players at the table, counting him, but alas, Christian had to leave as some kind of emergency came up. He's a lot of fun to play with. (He was Horace in the Fate game about the band on the airship, and the sentient blob in the Swashbuckers in Space Fate game.) This left:

*Phredd Groves
*Me
*Joseph Formoso
*Rachael Storey Burke

And we created characters, relationships, a location, 2 needs, and an object.

Phredd: Hippole Ponoit

Relationship with Nutmeg Pie: Duty: Cutie Mark Crusaders
Location that sat between them: Evertree Forest: The Lair of the Ursa Major

Joseph: Nutmeg "Nutty" Pie

Relationship with Solstice Cupcake: Friendship: Stranger New in Town and Pony Who's Everypony's Friend
Need that sat between them: Honesty: Get to the Truth About the Accident

Me: Solstice Cupcake

Relationship with Pony Val Pony: The Past
Object that sat between them: Magical Cockatrice Egg

Rachel: Pony Val Pony

Relationship with Hippole Ponoit: Intrigue: A Fugitive and the Pony Seeking Them
Need that sat between them: Laughter: To Devise Best Prank Ever

What could go wrong?
What _couldn't_ go wrong?

Me (looking at the situation as it develops): We're doing Les Mis, aren't we?

Rachel: Oh, I wanna be Pony Val Pony!

Pony Val Pony's real cutie mark was disguised with a nose, mustache, and glasses just over the top of it.

Solstice Cupcake was the Stranger.

Ponoit had heard legends about detectives and wanted to get a cutie mark as a detective.

Hippole Ponoit's Scene

Phredd asked Rachel to frame this. Hippole Ponoit, with cap and magnifying glass, was scanning the ground looking for clues, smoking a bubble pipe. Ponoit found the mustache from Pony Val Pony's cutie mark. Phredd got a white die, and he handed it to me.

Nutty Pie's scene was next. She found Solstice Cupcake, who had fallen into a pit. Nutty got some rope to help Solstice out. I think she went to Hippole Ponoit, Detective! Joseph got a black die, handing it to Phredd.

The next scene was mine. Hippole and Nutty helped Solstice out of the pit.

Hippole (looking at Solstice through the magnifying glass): Hm. Suspicious.

Solstice: I'm not suspicious! I'm Solstice!

Solstice had brought apples, I think, so Hippole wondered if she were trouble for the Apple family. I got a black die, and I handed it to Rachel.

Next was her scene. Pony Val Pony was the Former Fugitive of Derbyville! This Former Fugitive was very carefully polishing a cockatrice egg. There was a Book of Spells and Potions, and a cauldron bubbling and brewing.

The wind riffled the book, turning the page so that it read "Paralysis Poison". But, we didn't know what was on previous page.

Phredd: Did _he_ the notice page shift?

By the mirror, Pony Val Pony noticed his mustache missing!

Meanwhile, in the forest...

Hippole: What's this? It's the tip-- of a mustache!

What did it mean? Hippole didn't know.

Hippole: But I have a lead!

Nutty: Where does it lead?

Hippole: Back to where I came from -- let's go!

Hippole told Nutty to watch the house where Hippole thought the trail led, the house of Pony Val Pony.

Nutty (alone, watching the house): I really don't think this house is gonna do anything. (pause) Nope, sitting right there.

Nutty wandered off and into the cave of the Ursa Major. Nutty heard a very, very slow snoring. Then, the lamp on Nutty's pith helmet lit up the face of an enormous bear! Joseph got a black die, handing it to Rachel.

Next was a Solstice Cupcake scene. Now, there was a rivalry between Solstice Cupcake and Pony Val Pony, having to do with their families competing, the Cupcakes growing apples, and the other family growing pears, I think. And I think Pony Val Pony had tried to sabotage the Cupcake family's apple orchards, which is why Pony Val Pony was a fugitive.

Pony Val Pony and Pony Val Pony's cutie mark _both_ had a fake mustache, to our delight.

Pony Val Pony had tried to trap Solstice Cupcake in the pit, but now tried the direct approach, approaching Solstice Cupcake while Hippole hid in the bushes and observed the two ponies.

Pony Val Pony: Well, well, Solstice Cupcake. I knew you'd find me.

I noted that, given that Pony Val Pony (and Pony Val Pony's cutie mark) was disguised, Solstice Cupcake did not recognize her old nemesis.

Solstice: You _knew_ I was coming?

Joseph (struck by sudden inspiration): The rivalry is all in Pony Val Pony's mind!

We liked this.

Pony Val Pony: You may have caught me -- but you'll never take me alive!

And Pony Val Pony kicked Solstice and ran! I got a black die, which I gave to Joseph.

Pony Val Pony ran and ran -- and ran beside Nutty Pie.

Nutty: Are you running from the Ursa Major?

Pony Val Pony: Well, _now_ I am!

And Pony Val Pony's cloak fell off, as did bits of the cutie mark as the two ponies ran. The mustache and glasses disguise were the last to fall aside. And, Pony Val Pony's true cutie mark was revealed to be a pear tree!

The camera zoomed to the lair of bear. Pony Val Pony got a black die, which Rachel gave to Phredd.

At this point, we were ready for the Tilt. I had 9 White and Phredd 10 Black after we rolled, the two high totals. So:

I chose 5: Paranoia. Phredd modified it with 3: 2 People cross paths, and everything changes.

Phredd chose 3: Innocence. I modified it with 3: Wrong guy gets busted.

Hippole Ponoit returned to Pony Val Pony's home, which was not being watched -- but was deserted as well.

Hippole: This is my chance to Investigate!

Hippole snuck in and looked into the cauldron and at the book, and at the egg on the stand.

Egg: <Craack!>

And, Hippole got a black die.

And cut back to the running ponies.

Nutty: Oh hey! Pony Val Pony, are you running from the Ursa Major?

Pony Val Pony ____urrrr! (skidmark) (starts running again)

Nutty: No, running is good!

Pony Val Pony rescued Nutty from the approaching Ursa Major, tossing Nutty onto his back. Whoever's scene this was got a white die.

And I think Pony Val Pony's true name was revealed to be Colt Wickerson.

Solstice went into Pony Val Pony's home, managing to shield her eyes with a foreleg just before the cockatrice could turn her to stone.

Solstice: Er-- Mr. Cockatrice or Mrs. Cockatrice? Could you please, please turn my friend Hippole Ponoit back from stone? I'm gonna take my hooves down now.

Alas, I got a black die, and there were now two stone ponies. Whoops.

Nutty and Colt were talking.

Nutty: So -- I don't have any cutie mark -- and yours changed. Does that happen often?

Colt: Cutie marks don't change. I have been disguising it for many a year...

Thus began Pony Val Pony's monologue. Nutty got out a gramophone to play sad music.

Colt explained how the Cupcake family and their juicy apples shouldered his family aside. To redeem his family, Colt sabotaged the Cupcake apples.

Nutty flipped the album over. The music was sinister now.

Colt now knew that Solstice Cupcake had found him!

Nutty: You got to just stop being who you are and leave?

Colt: Yes.

Nutty: That sounds awesome!

And Nutty's cutie mark appeared: glasses and a mustache!

Nutty: I don't have to be like Pinky! I don't have to be like Mother! I can be whoever I want to be! (to Colt) Tell me how!

And Colt and Nutty went off to Boltimore to set up shop in some new life of crime.

What about Hippole and Solstice? Rachel now revealed that Colt / Pony Val Pony had intended to brew a _cure_ for cockatrice poison! And, that was what was in his cauldron.

Hippole unstoned and looked at the cockatrice -- and didn't turn to stone! The pony did get a little grayer, though.

Cockatrice: Mama!

Hippole: Now don't _do_ that! (indicating Solstice) Change her back! Change her back!

And the cockatrice did, and a white die was awarded.

Nutty was learning how to disguise identity. Hippole became a new cockatrice trainer! Even better, Hippole had found the problem with the Cupcake farm, -- apparently, Colt hadn't damaged it after all. Something else had, and Colt's attempted sabotage was merely coincidentally timed. The Cupcake farm had been saved! A white die was awarded. Apparently, the cockatrice good for pestilence control, and Hippole had squirrel statues to sell.

Someone: Fluttershy won't be happy!

Solstice found Colt's diary and solved the mystery! A white die was awarded.

Phredd noted that Colt and Nutty had gone to Boltimore.

Phredd: And you taught Nutty Pie everything you knew which isn't a lot. What now?

Colt passed a tree nursery with a "for sale" sign. There were five new pear trees. Colt purchased them and sent Nutty off on a "mission". As soon as Nutty had left, Colt took his cloak and the pear trees and walked off into the sunset, heading for Derbyville.

It was now time for the Aftermath. High, of either color, was good.

*Solstice Cupcake: White 11
*Pony Val Pony / Colt Wickerson: White 1
*Hippole Ponoit: White 1
*Nutmeg "Nutty" Pie: White 4

Hippole did start an animal statuary business -- and Fluttershy found out. She gave Hippole THE STARE.

Hippole was a pariah. Accompanied by the faithful cockatrice, the pony left town, head low.

Hippole: One of the most famous ponies in town is mad at me, and I have nowhere to go.

Nutty was bitter. This was a pony who had been torn between Pinky Pie and, I think, Maud Pie, and had thought to find a unique path with Colt.

Nutty: I really thought I had a partner.

Nutty tried bigger and bigger crimes and showed up in the news, hoping to attract Pony Val Pony / Colt Wickerson's attention. Inevitably, Nutty was arrested and the audience saw of Nutty was a jail cell door slamming shut with the pony on the inside.

Solstice now understood the position Colt had been in and was very sorry. She returned home where she arranged for the Cupcakes and Wickersons to bury the hatchet. What next? Party! Maybe even a wedding.

And, up to this point, everything felt, oddly, like it could have been in an episode of My Little Pony, albeit one with somewhat different main characters and perhaps a little darker than the show usually got, though perhaps not. The one discordant note was Colt / Pony Val Pony's fate.

Rachel: Pony Val Pony goes back to Derbyville -- where Solstice F*cking Cupcake revitalized the family business without me.

Colt / Pony Val Pony had planned to do that and to bury the hatchet with the Cupcakes. But now, enraged, the pony stamped the new pear plants to death -- and jumped off a cliff, dying.

Joseph: There's a note in the pot from Nutty Pie. It says "You are a terrible liar."