Movie Magic
is a sequel to Warren Hutch's My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfic Earth and Sky, taking place three years after that story.
Flush from the success of their flying harnesses for non-pegasus ponies, Harmony Aeronautics is about to make history again by having test pony/movie star Pip Squeak become the first earth pony to perform a Sonic Rainboom. Not only that, but movie pioneer Trixie Lulamoon is there to capture the moment on film with her new experimental "Reel-to-Real" camera lens. Unfortunately, a freak accident with the Flim-Flam Brothers' flying rig and Trixie's new camera gives Twilight Sparkle a nasty eye-ache... and a strange new power that leads to an unsettling discovery.
Not to be confused with the Equestria Girls episode of the same name.
This fanfic contains examples of:
- Actionized Sequel: Even more so than Earth and Sky; there's a near-accident and a big explosion in the first chapter, followed by a fight scene in the second chapter.
- Anger Born of Worry: When Pip proposes to her right before a dangerous test flight, Apple Bloom's initial response is to throttle him for his bad sense of timing.
- Call-Back:
- The Flim-Flam Brothers' experimental rocket is based on an incident in chapter 42 of Earth and Sky, where their phlogiston rockets kick into overdrive after getting doused in liquid rainbows.
- Continuity Nod:
- Twilight keeps an eye patch in her desk drawer, in case of eye patch emergencies.
- Even the Guys Want Him: Pip causes two mares and a stallion to faint while showing off his tight-fitting safety gear.
- Freak Lab Accident: One of these gives Twilight Sparkle her Magical Eye.
- Fun with Acronyms: Pip's Peril Actuated Extraction and Retrieval Suit, or P.A.E.R.S.
- Heel–Face Turn: After their antics in Earth and Sky, the Flim-Flam Brothers are now rocket scientists working for Harmony Aeronautics. In fact, the phlogiston-and-rainbow-powered device they've strapped Pip into was designed by them.
- Magical Eye: Twilight's right eye becomes one, thanks to viewing a rainbow-powered explosion through Trixie's experimental camera lens. It gives her both super-sight and True Sight: Twilight can not only, say, read the fine print on an eye chart and see Rarity without her make-up, but she can spot disguised changelings at a glance.
- Phlebotinum Breakdown: The P.A.E.R.S. system is...noticeably not up to snuff yet considering it is constantly teleporting Pip at random and against his wishes, eventually driving him into a full-blown rant about how much he hates it.
- Shout-Out:
- Twilight describes a trio of changelings that have infiltrated the press conference in chapter 2 as "Evil, pure and simple from the pits of Tartarus!" For bonus points, the story opens with the testing of an experimental high-speed vehicle in the desert.
- Apple Bloom shouts "Hi-keeba!" while delivering a flying kick.
- The name of Pip's safety suit was, by admission of the author, an excuse to have him shout "I hate P.A.E.R.S.!" when it keeps teleporting him away at an inconvenient time.
- Stage Names: When he's not working with Harmony Aeronautics, Pip Squeak stars in movies and serials at Lulamoon Studios under the name "Perry Grand".
