Story Approved: "Sunny Skies All Day Long" by PhantomFox · 2:12am Feb 13th, 2013
Sunny Skies All Day Long by PhantomFox
SCORE: 93%
Princess Celestia tires of constantly being surrounded by decorum, deference, and formality, and decides to take a day off from being Princess. But visiting Ponyville incognito is harder than she expects. Will she be able to fit in and make friends without blowing her cover?
Everyone
Synopsis (with Spoilers)
Celestia is fed up with being treated by the ponies as a Princess, expecting her to bring punishments among them for the smallest of things. She wants to be treated as herself, and not for the crown on her head. The story starts with her talking about these things to Luna, and she suggests setting her crown down for a day and taking a day off - not as the Princess, but herself.
Seems easy enough.
Now looking completely different, Princess Celestia -- a.k.a Sunny Skies, a pink-maned pegasus -- starts the trip for a casual vacation in Ponyville. One by one, she meets each of the Mane 6 -- Rainbow Dash, whom she does some trick flying with; Twilight, whom she bumps into on the street; Pinkie Pie, who randomly appears; Applejack and her stuck apple cart; Rarity and the relaxing spa trip; and Fluttershy in Pinkie Pie's party. All the while, Sunny Skies is building up her backstory -- born in Fillydelphia, she managed to go to Canterlot once from a Wonderbolt ticket. Her cutie mark represents her talent for storytelling. So it seems fitting that she would ask Twilight, the library keeper, if there are any other stories in her library.
However, throughout the whole time, Twilight feels that this "Sunny Skies" is a pony that is familiar to her. And after a few well-placed mistakes in the library, the truth is revealed -- Celestia and Sunny Skies are the same pony. At first, everypony -- except Pinkie Pie -- bows down, thinking the whole time, the whole time, they were being "spied on", or something of that level. It takes some convincing from both Celestia and Pinkie to prove that she was here for a break, to have some fun, and to be herself. Soon enough, everypony is spending the rest of the day with her, and before she leaves, she remarks, "Sunny Skies might show up again when you least expect it!"
Overview
6th most Favorited story on the site. One of the best stories to ever come along here.
Yet PhantomFox only has 468 followers.
What a shame.
No, but seriously, follow that guy. He needs them to help get more stuff done.
I think it was the idea itself that made this story as popular as it is. I mean, think about it -- a story about Celestia in disguise? Seems simple enough. But then when you add everything else -- like the cover picture, the fact that Celestia turns herself into a pegasus, all the interactions -- it pulls together like the perfect puzzle.
Many people have commented "Episode quality" and "It felt like an episode the whole time I was reading it", and I completely agree. If there were a few fics that deserved to have a canon episode all on their own, this would be one of them. Let's petition to Hasbro. Who's with me!!?
And the best part is, he (assuming it's a he) nails Celestia's personality brilliantly! The nervousness, her internal reactions . . . It was masterful. And then, the best part:
“Voila! You’ll look simply stunning in that ensemble. You’ll look just like a princess!”
Celestia’s face froze and her wings flared at the reference, hitting the attendant behind her in the snout.
BRILLIANT!!!
In seriousness, though, the one thing I find flawed is his style of writing. I don't like the fact that he makes a new paragraph for every piece of dialogue. I know it's his style of writing, but something about it seems wrong and alien to me. Also, because of this, there is a lack of action and emotion within the dialogue itself -- everything seems to happen either before or after speaking.
Other than that, PhantomFox has really made an amazing piece of literature. 93%.
I approve
It's a nice story, too.