Comparing two Stories with similar genres/bases/core Ideas (Romantic comedies, old marriage laws, and Celestia)

So, as the title says, I'm going to look at two stories and compare then, at least from the perspective of someone who read the first two chapters of each: No Nose Knows by Irrespective, and So you are suddenly a soon-to-be husband to a Sun-Goddess by TheDawsonator1.

So, these have similar premises: the main character, male, accidentally invokes an ancient law that forces them to marry Princess Celestia. The Male character tries to flee Canterlot upon discovering themselves in a situation they feel is awkward/embarrassing with Celestia, and of course the discover that they invoked the law after they got caught whilst fleeing. In both of them, Luna asks the main character if he new about the law before accidentally invoking it, how they managed to do it, and also threatens to kill them. In both, death is a possible way to get out of marrying the Princess, and in both, if the law is not obeyed, then Celestia is no longer allowed to be a princess. In both, there is no way to repeal the law. Both are supposed to be romantic comedies.

One of the key differences is that No Nose Knows is actually funny. Also, its main character is a pony, rather than a human.

You see, the law in So you are suddenly a soon-to-be husband to a Sun-Goddess is that, if someone sleeps with/rolls in the hay with/insert other innuendo here with Celestia, they are to be married. That's the sort of law you'd expect from medieval times, and the premise and the overall tone of the part that I read is serious.

In No Nose Knows, the premise/law is that the first stallion to touch his nose to Celestia's is her husband. As you probably figured out given the structuring and wording of these, I like the premise in No Nose Knows more because it feels like a joke. It's so ridiculous that it sets the tone as being far lighter than So you are suddenly a soon-to-be husband to a Sun-Goddess. Of course, if you don't like good comedy in your romantic comedies, I would suggest going reading So you are suddenly a soon-to-be husband to a Sun-Goddess, but personally, I think a romantic comedy should be funny and not make you think that the characters are all a bunch of idiots.

Anyways, the reason why the law in So you are suddenly a soon-to-be husband to a Sun-Goddess is not repeal-able is because Starswirl didn't have a successor and only people who held the same title as him can repeal it and for some reason the highest powers in the land (Celestia and Luna) can't either repeal the law or give someone the title necessary for repealing it. As such, they immediately accept that they must either marry or kill the male, or else Celestia's title will be striped from her. Of course, there's no explanation (at least, so far) as to how the law would be carried out. It's an ancient law almost completely forgotten about by everyone except the princesses, and there's nobody to carry it out. The Law apparently rested entirely on Starswirl and any successors, so him not having any means that the only possible way the law could be carried out is if Starswirl cast a spell that would force it, but it's not stated that he used magic to enforce it. However, Celestia and the male do not look for any loopholes, they just give up and accept their fate.

In No Nose Knows, the law can't be repealed because Celestia, Luna, and the three heads of the pony tribes at the time of unification all signed it and bound their magic to it, thus meaning that all 5 would need to repeal it, which is hard because 3 of them are dead. Unlike the Starswirl one, those with the ability to repeal it are not ones with a title, but rather the specific ponies, and it's bound by ancient and powerful magic that would actually force Celestia to be unable to raise the Sun if she didn't obey the law which she wrote. Oh, yeah, she wrote the law herself. I forgot to mention, but in So you are suddenly a soon-to-be husband to a Sun-Goddess the law was written by their parents. Also, in No Nose Knows, instead of just accepting it, they try to find a loophole to get out of it. Also, as I said, the story has comedy. I'm probably going to continue saying this a lot, but both of them are supposed to be romantic comedies but No Nose Knows is actually funny.

So, how they got in the situations: In So you are suddenly a soon-to-be husband to a Sun-Goddess, the main character challenged Celestia to a drinking contest, the got absolutely wrecked, and woke up in the same bed with the human being naked, which is where the story starts. They don't actually know if they had sex, but given that they were drunk they probably did. The Human grabs his clothes and runs while Celestia is still waking up, makes it the train station, and gets to Ponyville and essentially played cat and mouse with Princess Luna for a while as he hides from the Princess that is shouting that she'll rip his balls off and wants to kill him. Eventually, he's caught and teleported back up, but only after we see characters that aren't very well written. Well, I supposed So you are suddenly a soon-to-be husband to a Sun-Goddess is actually somewhat funny and has humor. The thing is, it's essentially using caps lock and curse words to make you think it's funny and make up for the lack of good jokes. It's similar to a fart joke. Fart jokes are horribly crass and aren't something you should use often, and should only be used to break up the tension because that's what it's good at. Fart jokes while you're running from a powerful being that wants to kill you, especially since it isn't actually to reduce tension, are not very good ones. What I'm saying is that has bad jokes.

In No Nose Knows, instead of starting off with them touching noses and then the stallion fleeing which could have been considered In Medias Res, it starts out with the main character (an aspiring writer who is somewhat insecure about his skill) trying to come up with ways to describe Canterlot's train station, as he wants to write a tour guide to help him get bits for formal training. It introduces you to the character, shows you what they like doing, and shows that they want to be a writer, but isn't heavy handed. You're actually introduced to the character, but you're not introduced to the main character within So you are suddenly a soon-to-be husband to a Sun-Goddess. Of course, this may be due to the first person style making it hard to explain the personality, except it shouldn't be. You don't have to outright say that they're kind, thoughtful, or likes doing something. Show don't tell, right? Well, So you are suddenly a soon-to-be husband to a Sun-Goddess is very bad at showing.

Anyways, back to what caused the situation, the Stallion decided to try describing the castle gardens. He decided to immerse himself within the Sunflowers to learn how do describe them perfectly. Then, Celestia's nose touched his. Immediately, he panics, and falls out of the sunflowers. Realizing it was Celestia's nose, he then tries to run... and is stopped by magic.

All in all, because I'm not a writer and have no idea how to end this properly, I'll just summarize. I like No Nose Knows more because it's actually funny, it has an actually good start, and the reason why the law can't be repealed or ignored actually works.