• Member Since 17th Jan, 2012
  • offline last seen 10 hours ago

Skywriter


loves tiaras.

E

Princess Celestia has something important to tell Princess Cadance on the cusp of her marriage to Shining Armor, which is kind of too bad, considering. A quick little block-breaker basically in the "Cadance of Cloudsdale" chronology but not strictly part of that cycle. Also, minor "Equestria Girls"-based content.


Now with a Spanish translation by the gracious SPANIARD KIWI!

Chapters (1)
Comments ( 153 )

Mmm, now that's good irony!

So, Sunset Shimmer is the reason Celestia´s perceived mistreatment to Twilight. And Canterlot High is nothing more than a pocket dimension created by Sunset to fill her ego? Well, that would explain a lot... except the "human" part, or the fact the students includes several of Twilight´s friends and acquaitances.

2787088
Headcanon says that Sunset is analogous to Gehn from the Myst universe. Create fantasy world, immediately exploit indigenous peoples.

DUN DUN DUN! :rainbowdetermined2:


But really, nice little snippet.

Awk-ward! Poor Chryssy.

It's nice to peer inside the head of Celestia in this one, as she always has such a mystique about her in your stories. I very much want to see some fanart of H.R.H. Celestia in her ridiculous dungarees and her ridiculous straw hat. :raritystarry:

Also, I'm now looking forward to a story about the invasion of the mirror universe by changelings, and their disappointment to learn that their powers are useless because high school kids are already just a pack of clones.

That dramatic irony.

I wonder how she'll take the aftermath of the wedding.

2787127
All things considered, it would have been fortunate if she had looked at the character tags.

Wow, I don't think I've ever felt this much pity for the "Sun Nag". She really can't seem to get anything right, even her confessions.

Hummm... more hints that Cadence will, at some point, go to Cloudsdale in the Cadence of Cloudsdale cycle.

2787127>>2787111
Can you make a sequel Chapter with Celestia calling in Cadance and Twilight and she apologizes (tearfully for doubting them)?

2787150
You would think such a thing would happen at some point!

2787119
Have you read "Heretical Fictions" and "Beloved"? Those are probably your best look inside Skywriter's Celestia's head.

Congratulations, Celestia. You're an idiot.

2787088
Pocket Dimensions can be...unstable, at times. especially when spawned from an unstable mind. :pinkiecrazy:

2787159
Ah, but where would the irony be? :trollestia:

Well, Celestia hasn't failed ALL of her protégés. After all, Prince Solis is responsible for bringing everlasting harmony to Equestria. That's got to account for a lot, right? :applejackunsure:

2787088
That's because magic's, well... magic is weird.

It's a wonderful story with a powerful dose of heartbreak in it. I only have one complaint, and it's not even the story's fault but mine: It references EqG which profoundly disquiets me.

I really don't want to watch that, but I need to know what happens in it if I'm going to write anything ever again. Bit of a conundrum threatening to writer's block me pretty much permanently. :facehoof:

But that's no fault of the story which is, in fact, brilliant. :twilightsmile:

2787111
Completely disregard possibility that world existed beforehand? :duck: I just can't buy that Shimmer would be content with being queen bitch of a high school when she set out to make an entire universe. I mean, Gehn typically made sure he was an object of worship.
Eh, it's your story, so you load the headcanons. It certainly explains why she knows what happens to an Element of Harmony when taken to a parallel universe even though she fled Equestria before the Elements were reactivated.

In any case, a fantastic story. I always love your take Celestia. More than anything, you convey the incredible burden she carries, of duty, responsibility, regret, and simple equine needs.
I'm honestly surprised that this wasn't a discussion built around the Immortality Blues. Way to defy my expectations there.
Finally, it is to my everlasting regret that I can't art good. Otherwise, I would so draw H.R.H. Celestia in her ridiculous dungarees and her ridiculous straw hat. :trollestia:

Comment posted by Derpmind deleted Jun 28th, 2013

Ah hah.. heh. I seeee. I can't say that I'm terribly okay with the idea of incorporating EQG into the canon you've been building. I feel like while it sort of fits, it's just twisting a story that's been laid out so well already, though I can't deny that you made it work pretty darn well. It's simultaneously hilarious and sad that Celestia should finally apologize to somepony, and then surprise, it was Queen Chrysalis. Oops. It's funny you should post this now, since I was just thinking about the main problem I had with A Canterlot Wedding. It's also funny, in a dark sort of way, to hear her talk about not having the nerve to apologize to Twilight. Gosh, if she felt she had to apologize then, she sure as heck has to apologize after the wedding. But noooo, she's all like, "learning to do exactly what you did is a valuable lesson". Uh huh. 'kay.

"Spike went back to look at her in the wedding chapel" :rainbowhuh:

lost heir to an unknown empire that senior members of the castle guard had come to jokingly refer to simply as "It,"

Now that's a bit of an obscure show reference. I like it.

I for one liked the EqG reference. :fluttershysad:

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Yeah, this isn't going into the cycle proper. I'm just playing.

Thanks for catching my rassafrassin' mixed-up preposition. Fixed.

2787088
I'm not sure I get the reference, and I've got to be missing something there. Still, I'll speculate that this other magical dimension was meant to satisfy some desire of its creator. Perhaps it cannot distinguish its creator and other "real" beings and simply tries to satisfy their desires as well?

It's kind of sad that Celestia is so brainless here. Different Aura, huh? Shouldn't that put her on guard and tell her something is up? I get that she's emotionally vulnerable at the moment, but I don't buy that she's so incredibly stupid with so many thousand years of experience.

2787252
Ghost, I am more than happy to give you the Cliff's Notes version of the entire film. PM me if you'd like it.

I think EQG is still officially non-canon, so you don't need to worry about that; but you'll see more and more dorks like me making reference to it, I expect, as time goes on.

2787572

Not to mention the singing part :ajsmug:

Guard 1: Hey, is it normal for the bride to sing a villain song before the wedding?
Guard 2: Oh, boy! If I told you about mine...

2787252 2787578

This is also how I feel and if it's not too much trouble, I would also like Cliff's Notes please.

2787111 That... I like that. Would that make Celestia Atrus? :rainbowhuh: .. and the element of magic Catherine? :applejackunsure:

Now that I think of it, a Myst/FiM crossover would kinda work, seeing as it's all about alternate universes and such. :rainbowkiss:

So one of the original Garternay factions ends up writing their way into FiM universe and lives underground for a thousand years, and somepony from the surface discovers their civilization. Their society is split by the revelation that there are sentient ponies up there on the surface, and some lunatic murders everyone. Years later, a stranger happens upon a book that fell out of the sky...

(yes, that's just the origin story of D'ni set in Equestria instead of Earth, and it hits a few snags when you realize that Atrus is born to Anna, from the surface.. :twilightoops:)

I'm becoming more and more curious about EqG now (my curiosity is going to be satisfied this Sunday when the local herd of bronies invades the one theater in the Seattle area which is actually showing the film). Specifically, if there's enough substance to the writing of that movie that you'd make a reference to it in an (admittedly non-canon) short related to your Cadance of Cloudsdale cycle, perhaps it won't be terrible. (In any case, I've heard the music is good-- so there's that at least). Also, good on you for not doing the "usual" thing and having Trixie fill the role as Celestia's first failure in raising an apprentice / heir.

And yes, the dramatic irony in this short is delicious. :) And oddly, given how Celestia is so racked with guilt over what she believes to be her failure in meddling with Twilight, it actually makes sense that she'd distance herself somewhat from Twilight after the events of the royal wedding. That is to say, of course there would be a riot of mixed emotions going on within Celestia after the victory of Cadance, but I have to think that in light of the above confession and apology, among the strongest would be something to the effect of: "Yes! I didn't screw up Twilight! She's succeeded in spite of me!" and "But... the training wheels have just come off-- the worst thing I could do now would be to intervene again in a meaningful way. Celestia, do not screw this up."

Anyway, thanks for sharing! :twilightsmile:

Hmmm.... maybe I should work on a short to break my own blocks as well... Hmmm....

2787578

I'm actually in the midst of trying to make my own version of the entire film in all honesty. Still lots of world-building I want to do, but there are a lot of twists and good ideas I think can serve as an "alternative".

2787851 there is a crossover like that out there with Dash and Twilight, but I'll be darned if I can remember what it is called.

2787915 Actually, you can just watch it on YouTube- I found a pretty good one of the FULL movie! But seriously- you have to watch it. Have to. The music is awesome, by the way. :pinkiehappy:

2787221 Well, between the end of this chapter and the start of that one (if it's after Twilight's ascension), each of the junior princesses would have spectacularly failed a Celestia-given mission- Twilight against Chrysalis and Cadance against Sombra. You could write it from the point of view of one of them instead of Celestia, and have them smile and nod and accept her apology for doubting them while inwardly wondering whether she was right all along. Just a thought.

Ouch. That was painful.

...in the way that implies good writing, that is. Poor Celestia. I'm kind of afraid to find out whether or not she manages to find it in her to say all this again to the actual Cadance.

The little hints here already have me building up in my mind a vision of the rest of the cycle, and I'm quite curious how poorly it is going to match up. :)

2788248

Heh! Thanks for the recommendation. I'll keep that in mind if my plans for Sunday fall through for some reason. (Since I've already got it scheduled, I've been holding off and avoiding spoilers as much as possible so I can get the full theater experience of the movie, eh.)

A new story by Skywriter!

Y'know, I'm tired of writing, "I'm conflicted about this." It's becoming rather cliche for me when I say it. Unfortunately, it's frequently true—and truer when you're in the habit of reading the works of good writers who tend to produce things that cannot be called mediocre, and thus that always disappoint in unique and interesting ways. Which, by the by, is not meant as a serious knock on this piece. I definitely like it, but I also feel like it could be better. There are a lot of nice bits in it, but it doesn't feel all that consistent to me. And I'm aware it's a block-breaker, so I'm probably being a bit unfair, but ve must hold all ze writinks to a higher standard, ja?

I think my biggest point of criticism with this piece is the passiveness of the narrative. There's a lot of Celestia introspection here, and introspection is usually dry reading. (Never mind that BB&C is probably as introspection-laden as anything; I still think it's a weakness, even if it's one to which I'm also prone) I do think there's some nice work here making that introspection livelier, by painting images of Celestia the Farmer and Twilight's book forts, among other things, but on balance I still find that the introspection drags a bit, at least for my taste.

I like your interpretation of Celestia here as very much a broken thing. I don't read enough princess fiction, but this is a take I like. I've always been a fan of characters with pathos. (I could go on for days about the mangaka circle CLAMP, who have made a storied career out of distilling pathos into a fine nectar) But in a way, that causes me a problem in this story, because the single moment that hits me most strongly is the moment between Celestia and the Mane Six at the opening. This may have to do with the fact that I haven't connected quite as strongly to Cadance and Chrysalis as characters yet, though. So the interplay between Celestia and take-your-pick just doesn't register as high on my interesting subject matter scale.

I really like Celestia's reflection on Cadance, Sunset, and Twilight together, too, but I find myself wanting more—and I think perhaps not in a good way. Again, I just find what Celestia has to say about Sunset and Twilight more interesting than what this story is actually about, especially because of Celestia's strong negative reaction to the "Lesson Zero" affair and how much that seems to be confirming her worst fears. Celestia really gives me a Plato's Cave vibe through this whole piece. We're seeing interesting bits of her, but we're only seeing the silhouette of them. The meat isn't being served here, but that's what I'm hungry for. I'm really interested to see Celestia talk to the real Cadance about these things, too, but having her talk to Chrysalis, on whom all of this is lost, kind of deadens the mood for me. I can't make myself feel too bad for our Sun Princess—Celly's a big girl, after all—so the emotional stakes just don't feel very high to me here, since nothing that gets said can matter much for more than a day past this point.

So those, I think, are my criticisms. First, that the introspection gives a bit of an uneven tone which pulls some of the punch out of Celestia's characterization; and second, that the interaction between Celestia and Chrysalis, for me, is less compelling than the interaction would be between Celestia and any of her three "students", since Celestia's insecurities strike me as more fundamentally compelling than Little Miss Cheesehooves and her plot to go all Harry Lime on Equestria.

Now, again, I really did enjoy this—and I was a little disappointed I gave this a thumbs up when I saw it get published, because now I'm denied the catharsis of actually clicking to reward a good story. But I really felt like this story offered more traction for criticism than most of the others I've read from you lately, and so I thought it was worth going that route to, one would hope, give you some ideas for making even better stories for us to read.

As much as I want to respect Princess Celestia as a wise and capable ruler of Equestria, all the way through 'A Canterlot Wedding' all I could hear in my mind at just about everyone, especially her, was this;

This is an interesting take on what was going on in her mind about the events though leading up to the first wedding. Hope to see a follow up with her reflecting on her actions afterward. :)

2788484

You know, perhaps half the problem here is that Skywriter's princess stories appear very out of order. Probably because he writes them as they come to him rather than giving us a coherent narrative as with Contraptionology! It makes for a interested reading experience, piecing together fragments the pony who I've started calling "The Sun Nag". It's no so good for endings or pathos, but, well, The Sun Nag is immortal. She kind of is without end.

As a long term Skywriter reading, I'm beginning to think there needs to be a reading guide to aid navigation through the many non-linear paths you can take through Skywriter's princess stories a la the Discworld series. You can probably take many routes through them and you'd get different experience depending on the route you choose. For what it's worth, the beginning of things, if there can be said to be one, happens on a clear night by the light of ten thousand stars on top of Observatory Hill, and the end, the pathos, occurs on an unremarkable evening among the bustling streets of Canterlot in Beloved. Will we get more pathos at the end of Candence of Cloudsdale and a more firm resolution for the Sun Nag? Only Skywriter knows.

Oh, one other thing...

2787119, 2787402

Fanart of Celestia in her ridiculous dungarees and straw hat you say?

:raritywink:

Gosh, Celestia's end goal of this Cloudsdale Cycle is to nationalise the weather, how outrageously socialist of her!

2790120
I'd say more royalist, given who's doing it. It should probably come as no surprise that HRH Celestia is a royalist.

Fantastic piece, I feel awful for Celestia (she's my favorite) but I have to admit you write her amazingly; knowing she was tlaking to Chrysalis that entire time, knowing her worries/fears regarding Twilight was an amazing scene, I hope she gets to have such a moment with the real Cadence at some stage. And I loved, loved the background behind EQG, pure genius!

The thing this story REALLY makes me want to see, to see by someone who really understands these characters and their minds and emotions, is what comes AFTER the wedding. I have really wanted to see a good Celestia piece regarding the wedding's aftermath, but this drives that desire home. And now, I don't think I can be satisfied with such a piece being outside your Cadance cycle, or at least it's canon. After Celestia bares herself like that, which is in and of itself unusual, and then seeing how absolutely wrong she had been...Twilight's vindication, Chrysalis revealed, the real Cadance having been imprisoned, etc, and how she reacts to it once everything has settled down.

Then I wonder what is wrong with me that I WANT to see this, and what effect it has on best princess. :raritydespair:

This is truly the first story I've seen set in-between the two halves of the Canterlot Wedding finale (more or less), and it proves to be some very interesting ground to cover. I've seen quite a few try to deal with the aftermath, but I like this approach better, as it sets up Celestia's thinking and allows us to project that forward through what we know... Her faith in her Faithful Student was shaken more by the events of "Lesson Zero" than she let on, and thus was restored more than Twilight might suspect when said student was willing to"fail" a very clearly assigned test in the Crystal Kingdom for the greater good.

I think one of the great themes of Celestia stories is the warping effect she has on those around her, both intentional and not, and this went through a fun list of those brought up around her without even having to bring in Luna again. The inclusion of Sunset Shimmer was appreciated here as well. (Likely my major complaint about EQG is that such a fun plot thread as a resentful former student was wasted as a disposable backstory for such a random project.). I've always felt that Twilight's neurosis were fairly understandable for someone with her backstory... Obsessing about order to some degree would follow from the seemingly always in control Celestia, naturally, but also needing to schedule every aspect of her day so as to maximize the use of time that she has. She has a massive thirst to learn everything, and it's being fed by a being that has a lifespan long enough to possibly do so. Add that her #1 assistant is also going to outlive her by centuries, and it would seem hard to avoid a voice forming in the back of her head that would be saying "Clock is ticking, Twilight, clock is ticking."

And so my heart goes out to poor Celestia, always trying to do the most good while seeing her own direct influence as a kind of poison to those exposed to it (as illustrated humorously by the bit with the farmers.) It's no wonder she masks that self as much as she does, and ends up being a chess player struggling to find the path that offers the best return for the greater good.

This is definitely a nice character piece, and a good insight into Celestia whether it's canon for your stories or not.

2787607
The Lyrical Free Expression Act of 574 established that information divulged during a musical number is not permissible as evidence of wrongdoing or proof of guilt.

2790350

as to wondering what's wrong with you:
you're human. It's an interesting issue.

That's all :-P
bears can be caught with honey, but people are caught with curiosity :-D

...well, crap. I've been avoiding spoilers for Equestria Girls as best as I can until I get the chance to see it, and there you go and tell me all about it in a story that, at first glance, had absolutely nothing to do with it. Don't get me wrong, I liked the story, but could you give a little warning next time?

I would love see more stories from this Celestia's perspective. I love mining the drama of the immortal tightrope walker.

2791137
Sorry. I hesitated, but It seemed minor enough, and I wasn't sure of the statute of limitations on a film that's been out for a time. What's a good rule of thumb for this sort of thing?

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