How Do You Shoot a Gun With Hooves
is an Intercontinuity Crossover fic between My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and Castle. It is written by Mr. Chaos, a.k.a. defender2222, and published at Fanfiction Dot Net as well as Fimfiction.net. The story is perhaps most notable for introducing the Original Character Lord Tydal, who would later appear in the author's The Many Secret Origins of Scootaloo and The God Squad.
A freak accident causes New York Police Detective Kate Beckett and her partner, best selling mystery writer Richard Castle, to be turned into ponies and transported to Ponyville. Meeting up with Twilight and her friends, Beckett and Castle try to deal with their new bodies, the citizens of Ponyville and all the insanity that the Mane 6 seem to attract, all while trying to find a way home.
This story contains examples of
- Accidental Misnaming: A Running Gag with Pinkie calling Beckett as "Kate Bucket". When she tries to correct her, it becomes "Bucket Beckett".
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Mr. Piles describes a capricorn as "just a fairy tale". Lampshaded by Castle - "But flying ponies and unicorns... those are all logical."
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Lord Tydal, quite literally.
- Forced Transformation: Both Castle and Beckett wake up as ponies.
- Instant Expert: Castle, in a unicorn body, gets a handle on his telekinesis with no help from other unicorns.
- MacGuffin: Discussed by Castle (who hates them) in reference to the Elements. Pinkie asks if those are muffins with gunk on them.
- Mind Screw: Twilight is revealed to have several of Castle's "Nikki Heat" books - except they're called "Filly Heat" and have pony!Rick's photo on the back cover.
- Musical World Hypothesis: The Mane Six break out in song in the forest, much to the confusion of Castle and Beckett, who join in towards the end of it.
- Naked on Arrival: And it takes Beckett a moment to notice:Beckett: (confused by his facial expression) Uh… Castle?”Castle: I told you I’d get to see you naked.Beckett: (Eyes widen and she quickly throws a blanket over herself) CASTLE!Castle: What?Beckett: We are ponies and your biggest concern is that you saw me naked?Castle: I think it is more concerning that you weren’t worried about being naked till I woke up.”Beckett: I am completely worried about being naked! Now get some clothing on!
- Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: Tydal, who wakes up believing he's in the middle of a war that already ended centuries ago.
- Random Effect Spell: Beckett points out that the Elements of Harmony don't have consistent results, and may not even do anything to Tydal.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Subverted when Tydal turns out to be a good guy.
- Shout-Out:
- Mr. Piles comments that Pinkie reminds him of Sunny Summers, and Twilight notes that she does use Sunny-Speak. It's lampshaded by the narration when Beckett hopes she won't hear about a pony with names like Willow or The Bloody.
- The Myths and Monsters of Equestria has this to say about Spike's species of dragon: "Mostly harmless."
- Pinkie Pie asks Tydal the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow. He asks if she means an Equestrian swallow or a Zebrican swallow.
- Sustained Misunderstanding: In addition to the Accidental Misnaming gag above:Pinkie: I don’t know who any of those people are. Are they friends of yours, Bucket?Kate: Beckett.Pinkie: Oh... are they friends of Beckett’s, Bucket?
- What the Hell, Hero?: Castle calls Beckett out for being ready to condemn Tydal so quickly without all the facts, reminding her that her mother dedicated her life to helping the wrongly accused and died for that ideal.
