Signal Boosting: "The Heart of the Matter" · 10:46pm Jul 1st, 2015
It's been a while since my last signal boost, hasn't it? High time for another, yes?
Anyway. The Mystery of the Vanishing Cadance. In the original Faustian concept of Princess Cadance (who at that time went only by the name "Mi Amore"), she was a mysterious unicorn princess from a France-like foreign land. Twilight had no reason whatsoever to know her and it was eminently credible that she would show up as a complete stranger in her life. The post-Faust version is far more problematic in that regard; as Twilight's foalsitter and one of only two extant un-banished alicorns in all Equestria at the time, it is curious that she's been a virtual nonentity in both Twilight's life and Equestria in general throughout Twilight's teenage years. The show acknowledges this in the canon: Discord, in "Three's a Crowd," wonders about the strength of Starbutt and Candybutt's friendship after "all those years apart," but stops short of, y'know, telling us where the hell she's been.
Followers of the "Cadance of Cloudsdale" series will probably realize that I am working up to answering that very question (and yes, more of that soon, as soon as I can finish a cute little block-breaking Spike/Cady piece) but an author named Aotrs Commander (who is a lich of some sort but who is nonetheless perfectly congenial) has his own theory, which I quite like. Also he is capable of doing his own cover illustrations, which makes me sad because taking screenshots of the show on your iPad can only take you so far. Anyway, I thought the piece deserved a slightly wider audience. See what you think.
Your signal boost has been received.
I'll be reading it soon.
A mysterious France-like foreign land . . . that speaks Italian.
3198307 That would be Istallion, of course.
3198307
France-like!
Seriously, the detail of Cady's Italianesque name has caused more convolutions in my headcanon...
3198499
Clearly she is from the Dyrwood.
3198435
Which raises the interesting point of pony-Rocky Balboa's nickname.
3198578
The Istallion... Tallion?
3198677
Or: "The Istallion stallion? Isn't that, like, half of them?"
Thank you for the reading suggestion. I certainly enjoyed the first chapter, and it doesn't hurt anything that it alone served as a very complete story. Will still be tracking it, though.
I have already thanked Skywriter via PM, but I woukld just like to re-iterate it here, so as not to seem churlish! Heart of the Matter did - if only very briefly[1] - make it to the featured box, and I attribute a fair chunk of that to you good folk who followed his recommendation. So to all of you:
Thank you!
[1]Long enough to take a screenshot for posterity; moment of glory!!! Muahahahaha!)