Stargazer, a perfectly normal Canterlot mare, goes to have a perfectly normal chat with Celestia about changelings. Purely for academic reasons, of course. Okay, so most of that was a lie.
But lies are the stock-in-trade of a changeling Infiltrator, and some habits can be hard to kick, so cut her some slack; besides, she just got married, and that can be stressful.
Especially since her new spouse is a pony.
(This story can be read stand-alone, but also serves as a sidestory. Click here for an explanation of how it fits in with other stories.)
Chapters (1)
Ugghhh its good but damn stargazer was used in ither fic where he is changed into changeling and now when I read it its annoyingly remind me of this xd
Anyway that one shot is more like prologue to story instead on just simple oneshot
5095277 Didn't realize the name had been used, but I'm not too surprised (Though in this case, Stargazer is a "she").
It's meant to work as a oneshot, a sidefic or as the start to a three-piece series, as noted in the description.
Marvelous One-Shot!
At first I was put off by Stargazer never actually speaking, but once I saw that this was actually what he wrote, rather than just 1st person pov, it made sense. Hardly anyone writes down their own half of a conversation.
I very much enjoyed this, and I would very much enjoy to read the rest of "Love is Blind".
I do have a question, though. You say this is a "sort of" sequel. Are these characters actually in the story, or is Harsh Light just influenced by the events of it?
Can we assume names have been changed to protect the innocent?
5099072 A sort-of sidestory, not sequel. To be specific, this lays the groundwork for some of the events of Cheersalis, which is the work The Queen and I is a sequel to. Fidanity covers a topic directly relevant to this story, but it doesn't feature Stargazer directly (It's about Cadance).
I am amused at your observation on the literary style. Most people don't pick up on that detail. Yeah, I was deliberately going for relating the event exactly as most people I know would narrate stories from their lives, and they usually gloss over their own participation. Glad you liked that touch.
5100838 Heh, you're a sharp one. The names haven't been changed, per se, but Stargazer's wife isn't mentioned by name yet, and some significant time passed before this work was made public...
The next few sidefics should give context to that.
Well, this was a nice little story! Upvoted and saved in my bookshelves
5218332 Thanks, I appreciate it. I've had a lot of weird stuff going on that's prevented me from getting work done for a while, but I'm hoping to continue the series soon. TQ&I itself is already written; it's the sidestories that have been the holdup.
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Making my way through TQ&I Book 1 now
You did an excellent job capturing Stargazer's anxiety. When faced with someone so out of his league that they aren't even playing the same game... Yeah, that's not just going to be overwhelming, it's going to take a while to come down from the fear.
Still, definitely went better than expected for all parties, myself included. I know the borders will be opened, but this still went quite smoothly. Well thought out, well presented.
I was seeing it a bit before, but now it's really become apparent how much the narration style changes to fit each story, with the way this one is almost the polar opposite the TQ&I, with little speech or direct internal narration. I'm liking that.
I'm also happy to see some of the backstory to how things got to Cheersalis in the first place. Though I could take it as a fait accompli as a necessary prerequisite for the stories to take place, it did seem like the question of how we got here from there was a good one.
7393880 I admit I was hesitant to "answer the question no one asked", but it seemed like a great chance to flesh out the setting and introduce Stargazer. You'll be seeing quite a lot more of her in the sidefics.
I'm also really glad you liked the style, despite it being so different from TQ&I's. Though, which style in TQ&I did you mean? *cackles maniacally*
Magnificent story
dawww
The meta of this is incredibly amusing. Getting to see the very tense, incredibly tedious political changeling-pony relations AU like this alongside all the more dark/adventure based ones is fun.
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I never really considered that. I guess it does stand out. Thanks for the feedback!
Did you read The Queen and I before plowing through these?
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I did! It was just years ago, and I've had these sitting around on my sequel/continuity read it later forever.