This mostly adheres to the continuity of the Friendship is Magic series, with one minor alteration being that several ponies from other series are now part of the cast, making this a continuity mash-up of sorts. The storyline is based heavily on an Andy Griffith episode entitled, The Jinx." Please enjoy!(BTW, I have pictures of Clover and the various other ponies from this story available on my blog, the Keeper of the Fun blog!)
It's a beautiful day in Equestria. In the heart of the city of Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle and her five friends are walking down the street when they spot a pony they haven't seen before sitting at an outdoor restaurant table, eating an alfalfa sandwich. She's a lavender colored pony with a pink mane and tail, matching eyes, and a four-leaf clover cutie mark. Standing next to her is a small Dalmatian who's lapping up a bowl of water. "Say, I wonder who she might be." Rainbow Dash muses.
"I dunno," Pinkie Pie replies. "I thought I knew everypony in town"
"Let's go introduce ourselves." Twilight suggests; the six ponies stroll casually up to the new pony. "Hello, are you new in town?" Twilight greets her.
"Well, kind of, I just moved here about two weeks ago. My name is Clover(1), and this is Woebegone(2)." She motions toward the Dalmatian, who barks hello.
"Well, it's quite a pleasure to meet you. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity." The purple unicorn motions toward each of her friends.
"So pleased to make your acquaintance, Dearie." Rarity says politely.
"Say," Applejack pipes up. "Th' Grand Gallopin' Gala's comin' by this-here afternoon Wanna come?"
"Sure I'd love t-" But before Clover can finish, a mysterious voice cuts her off sharply.
"Twilight, what are you doing? Don't go near her!" The ponies whip around to see Skywishes(3), a pink pony with a purple and dark pink mane, bright green eyes, and a kite and butterfly cutie mark, approaching them. Twilight, very shocked at her mean behavior, asks, "Why?"
"Because she's nothing but bad luck!"
The ponies all exchange disbelieving looks with each other, except for Pinkie, who wears a look of shock. "B-b-bad luck? *GULP.*"
"Exactly!" Skywishes continues. "Why, just the other day, Ace(4) was playing soccer at the Ponyville Soccer Field; he was really tacking up the score! Then, halfway through the game, he goes to the water cooler, and Clover gives him a high-five. Then he goes back out on the field and kicks the ball, and doesn't it burst on impact!"
"Well, maybe he just kicked it too hard." Dash replies helpfully.
"And then there was the time Patch(4) was playing baseball at Ponyville Stadium. She was batting a beautiful game, until she hits a fly into the bleachers; Clover caught it and threw it back to her. Next thing you know, she hits the ball and doesn't her bat break!"
"Well, perhaps her bat was old, Dahling." Rarity replies.
"And then there was the time Melody(4) was holding a concert at Ponyville Theater. Almost everypony in town was there; halfway through the concert, Clover came and seated herself in the audience, and didn't Melody's microphone go dead!"
"Well, maybe it was just a technical problem." replies Fluttershy.
"Really, Skywishes," Twilight notes. "I'm sure that all of these things were only coincidence."
"Coincidence? Hah! If I were you, I'd avoid her for the sake of your luck and safety!" Skywishes then leaves. Dash shoots a disdainful look at her as she goes. "Yeesh, the nerve of some ponies!"
The ponies turn to their new friend. "Oh, don't listen to her, Clover." Fluttershy says consolingly.
"Yeah, she was jus' bein' mean!" Applejack adds.
"No...she's right," The purple pony's face falls. "I really am nothing but bad luck. Everywhere I go, bad things always seem to follow, so, honestly, it really might be in everypony's best interest to stay away from me. Come on, Woebegone."
The ponies look on sadly as Clover and her pet slowly wander away. "Poor gal." says Applejack.
"If only there were some way we could show her she wasn't bad luck." Twilight says.
Later on, in her shop in the middle of town, Pinkie sits reading a book of superstitions. "Hmm," she muses. "It says here that rubbing the head of somepony with red hair gives you good luck."
Just then, Applejack's little sister Apple Bloom traipses through the shops front door. "Howdy, Pinkie," she greets her. "Ah've come t'pick up them chocolate cupcakes AJ ordered."
Pinkie stares at Apple Bloom's apple-red mane from out of the corner of her eye. Ahh, perfect! she thinks, upon which she trots up to the little yellow pony and begins rubbing her hair. Apple Bloom stares up at her oddly. "Uhm, Pinkie, why're y'all a-rubbin' mah hair?"
"For good luck." The pink pony replies.
Apple Bloom continues to stare. Has she mistaken me fer a troll doll? she thinks.
"You see," Pinkie continues. "I've read that rubbing the head of somepony with red hair brings good luck."
"Y'don't say." replies a very intrigued Apple Bloom.
At that moment, Twilight enters the shop; Apple Bloom traipses up to her. "Well, howdy, Twilight. Have y'all come t'rub mah hair fer good luck?" She lowers her head a tiny bit.
"What in the world..." a very perplexed Twilight begins.
Pinkie laughs, "Ah ha, kids! They really do say the kookiest things, don't they?" Seeing Twilight's disapproving look, she confesses. "Well, uhm, I kinda...sorta...mighta told her that...maybe..."
From the corner of her eye, Twilight spots the book Pinkie had been reading on a nearby counter. She traipses over and picks it up. "'Well-Known Remedies for Bad Luck.' Oh, Pinkie, you haven't fallen for all of this bad luck mumbo-jumbo, have you?"
"Well, I don't want to take any chances."
"Bad luck is nothing but superstition," the purple unicorn says seriously. "In fact, I may have found a way to help show Clover that she isn't bad luck."
"How so?" replies the pink pony, as she continues to rub Apple Bloom's mane.
"Well, it's harvest time at Sweet Apple Acres. AJ's family can always use a few more helping hooves, so I'll invite Clover to come down and assist them."
A look of panic crosses Pinkie's face. "Twilight, you can't be serious, she's bad luck! Why, as soon as she sets hoof on that farm, I bet all of the apples will get worms in them!"
Twilight gives her another disdainful look. "Pinkie, I expected better of you! We have to have confidence in Clover, otherwise how will she ever have confidence in herself? I'm going to go find her and tell her about our plan." She soon becomes aware of what Pinkie is doing. "Uhm, Pinkie, would you please stop rubbing Apple Bloom's hair?"
"Oh, right!" Pinkie gently pats the little yellow pony on the head and leaves. Twilight and Apple Bloom then exchange odd looks with each other.
Moments later, Twilight finds Clover walking down Mane Street. She hurries up to her, "Hi, Clover!"
"Twilight? Why are you coming near me? Aren't you afraid of getting jinxed?"
"Oh, don't be concerned, Clover," the purple unicorn replies accommodatingly. "Bad luck isn't real."
A doubtful look crosses Clover's face. "Mmn. I'm not so sure."
"I promise it to be true," Twilight replies. "In fact, I have a way to prove it."
"Really? How?"
"Well, AJ and her family need a bit of help at Sweet Apple Acres, so I've invited you to come assist them."
"I don't know...I might just louse that up, too."
"Don't worry, Clover," Twilight says accommodatingly, as she leads her new friend down the road toward the farm. "I'm sure everything will be fine."
Twilight and Clover presently arrive at Sweet Apple Acres, where Applejack, her brother Big Mackintosh, and her grandmother Granny Smith are mulling around, kicking apple trees and shaking apples loose. Apple Bloom strolls up to Clover and greets her. "Howdy, Miss Clover, pleased t'meet y'all. Mah name's Apple Bloom."
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you to, sweetie." the purple pony replies politely, as she and Apple Bloom shake hooves.
"Mah brother, sister, grandma, an' I all harvest th' apples at this time ever' year."
"Are you the middlepony?" Clover inquires.
"Nope, thar' all bigger n'me."
At that moment, Applejack happens up to them. "Well, howdy thar, Clover. Ready t'help us harvest th' aples?"
"Uhm, sure," the purple pony looks doubtful. "As ready as I'll ever be."
"Aw, don't be concerned, Clover, thar's nothin' to it." AJ traipses up to a tree to demonstrate. "All y'gotta do is jus' find a tree, like so," She then rears back and gives the tree a good firm kick, jostling a large number of apples loose. "An' give it a nice hard kick, like so!"
Clover finds herself a nice sturdy tree. Okay, she thinks. Here goes nothing! She rears back and gives it a good hard kick; unfortunately, this tree proved t be housing a beehive, which gets shaken loose by Clover's kick and falls to the ground. The bees begin swarming angrily, as all of the ponies run around screaming.
Clover and Twilight meet on a street corner moments later, covered in bandages. "Wowsy-wowsy(5)," Clover sighs dolefully. "I've done it again."
"Oh, don't blame yourself, Clover," Twilight says consolingly. "These sort of things are nothing but occupational hazards."
"Never seen it to fail, every time somepony thinks they can help me, my bad luck ruins everything."
"Oh, that's not so, Clover-" but before Twilight can continue, she sees Pinkie coming up the road, holding something shiny and silver under her left hoof. "Uhm, hi, Pinkie," the purple unicorn greets her. "What'cha got there?"
"It's my lucky horseshoe." The pink pony holds it up for them to see. "This is sure to keep bad luck away."
"Uhm, where did you get that, Pinkie?" Twilight inquires. Just then, a blue unicorn passes by them and says, "My feet are cold." The pink pony blushes an even deeper pink. "Well, uhm, I'd better be going. Bye-ee!" She then leaves.
Clover's expression grows even more somber. "See? Even she thinks I'm a walking bad-luck charm!"
"Don't take it personally, Clover. Pinkie's just...well, being Pinkie." A thoughtful look suddenly crosses Twilight's face. "In fact, I think I may have thought of another way to help prove that bad luck isn't real."
"Really? What's that?"
"Well, Rarity could always use some assistance at her clothing store, so I'll offer her your assistance."
"Are you sure? My bad luck's likely to just ruin things for her, too."
"Don't worry, Clover, I'm sure that everything will work out nicely." Twilight says, as she and Clover then head toward Rarity's shop.
Twilight knocks on Rarity's door, upon which Rarity's little sister Sweetie Belle greets them. "Hi, Twilight, Hi, Miss Clover!"
Clover politely shakes her hoof. "Pleased to meet you, Honey."
"My name's Sweetie Belle; my sister has told me so much about you." the little unicorn says. Clover gives a small smile.
"Uhm, speaking of Rarity, may we see her for a second, please?" Twilight requests.
"Ooh, sure! She's just in the workroom. Follow me, please."
Sweetie Belle leads the two ponies into the workroom, where Rarity is sitting at a table, measuring out some cloth. "Hi, sis!" Sweetie Belle greets her. Rarity immediately looks up from her work. "Oh, hello, Dearie. What might I be able to help with?"
"Well, you see," Twilight replies. "Clover here would like to help you make clothes." A doubtful look crosses Clover's face upon these words.
"Oh, splendid, dear! Let me show you to a sewing machine here, and I shall show you what to do." Rarity leads the purple pony over to a table housing a sewing machine. "Now, it's quite a simple process, Dearie," Rarity then seats herself at the table. "You simply step down on the pedal, like so, then feed the cloth through the machine, like so." She then demonstrates same.
"Well, that looks pretty easy." a still slightly unsure Clover states.
"We have various types of fabric along this wall over here, and patterns in this file folder." The white unicorn motions toward both of the aforemetioned. "Have fun, Dahling!" She then leaves the room.
Okay, The purple pony thinks, as she selects a sweater pattern and some material. Step down on the pedal and feed the cloth through. Surely I couldn't jinx this up... She then begins stitching up the cloth.
Rarity is sitting in the next room reading a fashion magazine when Clover calls in to her several moments later. "Say, Rarity, I've finished some outfits. Wanna check and see if they look okay?" The white unicorn enters the room and gasps at what she sees. There are dresses with six legholes, sweaters with no opening for the head, shirts with no sleeves, coats covered with pockets, and scarves covered with sleeves.
Clover winces when she sees Rarity's shocked expression. "Uhm, well, ah, I did make this sock. Does it look okay?"
"Yes, but it was supposed to be a skirt!" The white unicorn angrily motions toward the pattern on the desk.
"Well, uhm, maybe if we sorta...stretched it out a bit?" the purple pony replies helpfully, while attempting to stretch the sock out. Rarity looks as though she might explode.
"Well, ahh, thanks for, uhm, letting me help you. 'Bye!" a red-faced Clover slowly traipses through the door.
Clover then meets up with Twilight again. "So, how did things go at Rarity's shop?" Twilight inquires.
"Not so well," Clover sighs. "I managed to jinx things up for her, too. Wowsy-wowsy."
At that moment, Pinkie happens by. "Hi, gals! How's everything goin'?"
"Not so well," Clover sighs. "I botched up making clothes at Rarity's shop."
"Ohh, I'm so sorry." the pink pony replies sympathetically. Just then, a white pony with a red mane and tail happens by; Pinkie reaches up and rubs her mane vigorously. The pony, whose hair is now sticking out all over the place, stares in amazement.
A thoughtful look crosses Twilight's face. "Say...I think I may have another idea! Fluttershy could always use somepony's help in looking after the forest animals, and I think that you would be just the pony for the job, Clover!"
"But, what for? My bad luck will just make a mess of things again."
"Don't be concerned, Clover," Twilight replies. "I'm positive that everything will be fine." The two of them then begin heading toward Fluttershy's home in the forest.
Twilight knocks on Fluttershy's door. "Hello?" the yellow Pegasus greets them.
"Hi, Fluttershy." the purple unicorn replies. "We've come to see if you need any help looking after the animals."
"Well, actually, there is something I could use a bit of assistance with." Fluttershy motions toward the trees in her front yard, which are filled with birds' nests. "The birds need to be fed."
Twilight motions toward Clover. "Well, I'm sure that Clover here will be happy to help."
A very doubtful looking Clover traipses up to Fluttershy, who hands her a fair-sized burlap sack of birdseed. "All you need to do is sprinkle some hoof-fuls of this beneath the trees, and the birds will come eat it." the yellow Pegasus notes.
"Thanks." a still unsure Clover replies, as she heads toward the trees. "Good luck, Clover." Twilight says kindly, as she leaves.
The purple pony reaches into the bag and grabs out a hoof-ful of birdseed. What have I got to lose? she thinks, as she sprinkles it at the foot of the tree Shortly thereafter, a group of sparrows flutters down and begins eating it. Clover's face lights up. "Say...nothing bad happened! Maybe I'm not bad luck after all!"
Now feeling elated, she skips energetically through the field, merrily tossing birdseed as she goes. Unfortunately, she hadn't been watching where she was tossing it, and a large quantity of it ended up in her mane. Moments later, the purple pony hears the flapping of many wings behind her. "Hmm, what could that be?" Her question, unfortunately, is soon answered as an enormous flock of large birds descend on her and begin dive-bombing her mane. "Ahh! Help! Get away, get away, get AWAYYYY!" she cries, as she runs around, frantically trying to escape the ravenous flock.
Twilight and her friends(Save for Pinkie) meet later on a street corner in the middle of town. "Clover ran into some trouble when she came to help me feed the birds." Fluttershy says sadly.
A guilty look crosses Rarity's face. "Poor dear. I wish I hadn't been so hard on her earlier; she was only trying to help."
"If only there were something we could do..." Twilight says sadly. Suddenly, an idea hits her. "Wait, I think I may have figured out just the thing to help Clover see once and for all that she's not a jinx!"
"Cool!" Dash replies enthusiastically.
"What's your plan, Twilight?" inquires a curious AJ.
"Well, there's going to be a raffle for a bunch of Rarity's designer dresses at the Great Galloping Gala later, and I had a plan for us to rig it in Clover's favor. Everypony'll be picking a number out of a fishbowl, so I'll write the same number on every ticket, but we'll ask everypony else not to call out their number, making her an instant winner."
"Well, that's right nice a'y'all, Twilight." AJ replies.
"This will surely lift her spirits." Rarity adds.
At that moment, Twilight spots a melancholy looking Clover walking up to them. "There she is!" The purple unicorn meets up with he friend. "Clover, I'm so glad to see you, we have something very important to tell you!"
"Well, I have something important to tell all of you, too." Clover replies sorrowfully.
"What's that?" the other horses inquire.
"I'm leaving Ponyville."
"LEAVING?!" the others echo in shock.
"Uh huh." Tears spill from Clover's pink eyes and splash on the sidewalk. "No matter what I do or where I go, my bad luck keeps ruining things for everypony."
Just then, Pinkie comes walking up to them, carrying a lucky penny. Dash shoots a disdainful look at her. "What?" the pink pony asks perplexedly. "What did I do?"
"It was nice of you guys to try to help me, but it's just no use, I'm nothing but a bad luck accident waiting to happen. Goodbye, you guys, I'll never forget you." The purple pony begins traipsing off.
"Clover, no!" AJ calls after her.
"Don't go!" Rarity calls.
Thinking quickly, Twilight hurries up to her. "Wait, Clover, please! I have an important message for you!"
"Yes?"
"There's a raffle for a set of designer dresses at the Grand Galloping Gala this afternoon, and we'd all love for you to come."
"Why bother? I'll only louse that up, too."
"Don't worry, Clover, I'm positive that you'll come out of this well," Twilight says consolingly. "In fact, I guarantee it." She gives a small nonchalant smile, clearly thinking about the plan.
"Well...okay," replies a still unsure Clover. "But I wouldn't get my hopes up." She then heads for her house. "Mission accomplished," Twilight whispers to her friends. "Now for step two." Her friends all huddle around as she whispers the next step of the plan into their ears.
The six ponies then set about hurrying through town, telling everypony they met about the plan, which everypony obliged to. As the afternoon rolls around, Twilight, her friends, Clover, and a large group of other horses gather in the heart of town for the raffle. All of the horses seat themselves in front of a large stage, upon which Twilight is standing, with her little dragon buddy Spike, as well as Rarity, standing nearby. "Good afternoon, everypony," she greets them. "Welcome to the drawing for a wardrobe of fine designer dresses, made by our very own Rarity!" The white unicorn smiles modestly.
Twilight then turns to Spike. "Spike, would you bring us the fishbowl, please?"
"With pleasure, Twilight." The little dragon picks up a fishbowl full of little scraps of paper off of a nearby table and passes it down to each of the ponies in the audience. "Please pick a number, everypony."
"No thank you." Clover says.
"Oh, but please do," says Lily Lightly(6), a pale purple unicorn with a pink and blue mane and tail, blue eyes, and a white lily cutie mark, who's sitting just behind her. "You could be the one to win those lovely dresses."
"Yeah," agrees Teddy(7), a blue pony with a red mohawk-cut mane, a spiky red tail, darker blue eyes, and a black comb cutie mark, who's sitting next to Lily. "You've got just as good a chance as anypony else."
"Well...okay." Clover reluctantly takes a number, upon which Spike continues passing the fishbowl down. Pinkie, who's sitting next to Dash, reaches over and rubs the red portion of Dash's mane. The blue Pegasus shoots an annoyed look at her. "You're gonna hafta' not do that." she says irritably.
"All right, does everypony have their number?" Twilight calls after Spike's finished.
"Yes." the crowd replies.
"Excellent!" Twilight replies, upon which Spike presents the bowl to her. "Would you like to do the honors, Twilight?" he inquires.
"Certainly." The purple unicorn reaches into the bowl and closes her eyes, pretending to feel around for a number, until she finally picks one out. "And the winning number is...72!"
A hush suddenly falls over the crowd. "Uhm, does anypony have number 72?" Twilight asks. The crowd remains silent. "Say, what number'dya get, Clover?" whispers a perplexed AJ. "Is it 72?" whispers Fluttershy.
"Uhm...no." the purple pony replies.
"NO?!" all of the horses in the audience echo in shock.
"But, what does your card say?" Fluttershy inquires.
"'This tank approved by the manufacturer to be free of defects.'" Clover reads.
Dash exasperatedly face-hoofs. "Oh, she picked out the fishbowl instructions!"
"Wowsy-wowsy," the purple pony sighs. "Wouldn't you know it? I even jinx up things for myself."
Time to come clean. Twilight thinks. "Uhm, Clover, there's something we need to tell you. Everypony else got number 72, too." Upon these words, all of the horses in the audience hold up their cards for her to see.
Well, Clover is more than a little taken aback by this. "T-they did? But how?"
"Well, you see," Twilight elaborates. "This drawing was rigged so everypony would get the winning number, except nopony else would say anything, so you would win automatically."
Clover's expression becomes even more doleful. "Then I still lost."
"But, that's not so, Clover," a concerned Spike replies. "All of these ponies have gotten together to help show you that you aren't bad luck."
"That's right," Twilight agrees. "If there's one thing I know for sure, it's that friends are the luckiest thing anypony can have, and with friends like these ponies, you'll always be guaranteed the very best of luck!"
"Y-you really mean it? I'm not bad luck after all?"
"Sure as puddin'." AJ replies cheerfully.
A wide smile spreads across Clover's face as her heart fills with happiness for the first time in a very long time. "Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful day!"
"Well say," Spike addresses Twilight. "Since Clover was gonna win th' dresses anyways, hows'about we reward 'em to her unanimously?"
The purple unicorn smiles. "That would be a wonderful idea, Spike."
As Clover traipses over to collect her prize, Pinkie happens up to her. "Uhm, say Clover, Would'ja like for me to help you take those dresses home? Y'know, so's nothin' bad happens or-"
"PINKIE!" her friends suddenly exclaim.
The pink pony blushes an even deeper shade of pink. "Ooh, just kidding."
The end.
Voice Cast
Twilight Sparkle-Tara Strong
Spike-Cathy Weseluck
Pinkie Pie/Fluttershy-Andrea Libman
Applejack/Rainbow Dash-Ashleigh Ball
Rarity-Tabitha St. Germain
Apple Bloom-Michelle Creber
Sweetie Belle-Claire Corlett
Clover-Jocelyn Loewen
Skywishes/Blue Unicorn-Jennifer Hale(8)
Lily Lightly-Cathy Cavadini(8)
Teddy/Woebegone-Joshua Seth
(1)She's from My Little Pony Tales.
(2)His name is taken from a character in a G1 story arc entitled, "Woe is Me." This is made slightly ironic by the fact that in some cultures, Dalmatians are considered to be lucky.
(3)She's from G3.
(4)All three of these characters are from My Little Pony Tales.
(5)This was originally the catch phrase of Shleprock, a character with a similar predicament, from The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show.
(6)She's from G3.
(7)He's from My Little Pony Tales.
(8)A nod to another famous series by this show's creator, The Powerpuff Girls.