"Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead." ~Gene Fowler
Celestia receives a letter from Twilight, the first in a long time.
A letter about the Cutie Mark Crusaders and how Twilight has changed since her arrival in Ponyville.
It makes a seemingly solitary Celestia think...
Edited by the fantastic GaleSinger
Art belongs Nadnerbd
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That was sad but sweet! I really liked it. Have a like!
Very nicely done, CtL! All the tropes and themes here have been touched on before (Celestia writes a letter she'll never send, Luna encourages her to go for it, Celestia dreams of living a normal life alongside Twilight, etc.) but that doesn't mean there's no more to add to them, or that you can't add your own twists to them.
Good show!
6584581 I was kind of cautious of perhaps tredding over old ground with this. It was sort of in the back of mind throughout writng it, hope I managed my own spin on it though! I am glad that you enjoyed it though!
Oh Celestia... My eyes are stinging from the tears I am crying! This is an amazing emotional story!
Wold be interesting if continued. Good job, with what you have so far.
This is an old idea, but that execution was fantastic. Idk why or how but ya got me really feeling for celestia there. Great work.
I would like this just for the fact alone that it acknowledges that a teacher-student relationship like this would be utterly fucking creepy and that it doesn't contrive a "and they hooked up and lived happily ever after" resolution to end the story on. It doesn't hurt that the writing is pretty decent, either. Some parts of it felt like they could have had their word-count cut down a bit, though. This is more of a 3.5-4k words concept than a nearly 5k words one.
Very well done! I loved it, especially the internal comments from Celestia. They were just enough to show us her thought process and make it hit home harder.
6584613 Then Cadence beat Celestia until she sent the letter and Twilight and Celestia went to the amphitheater to see the show. And then they lived happily ever after. except discord who had a crush on Celestia and committed suicide which made Fluttershy commit suicide which caused a chain of suicides which led to the collapse of society. All because Celestia wasn't celibate.
6585572 Boy...that escalated quickly.
I mean, that really got out of hand!
6585484 I have never thought a relationship between Celestia and Twilight would be exactly easy. I'd imagine it would be extremely awkward and uncomfortable for the parties at first. I didn't want to do a happy ending because honestly it wouldn't have fit and would kill the tone I was looking for. The story dragged on slightly because Luna was not in the orginal draft so that might explain it, though I feel it was justified in the end.
Thanks anyway for enjoying the story!
Considering that it can be tricky to write a flesh-out Celestia's character a little while keeping it in character from what little guidelines the show gives to work with, not to mention have a decent Luna appearance, this was great. Way better than I was expecting, top-notch work.
And this why I love Twilestia, such a beautiful ship nothing compares to it.
Very nice characterization, highly sweet, nice use of imagery, and all in all an excellent short story! The Like is earned.
I really appreciate the time you put into this, making it believable and realistic. I could really see Celestia starting to think this way. They are both alicorns, but the profound difference is Twilight is happy with lots of friends, while Celestia is stuck doing lots of boring work, placed on a high pedestal that no one dares to approach. Celestia mentions it herself when she says, "It was obvious to Celestia who it was. Only one pony had the sheer audacity to enter her room at this hour." It really sounds like it sucks, being somewhat of an outcast among her own people.
I also like Luna's perspective of "what if things turned out differently?" I feel that question could be a separate story altogether. What if Celestia during Luna's thousand year absence was treated more like how Twilight was, rather than like a god? We might see a very different Celestia if that happened.
Thank you for this thought provoking piece author. It was an entertaining read.
Expected something different. Something... less than this.
Excellent job.
6585809
In face of the age difference and that one of them practically all but raised the other, I really prefer this kind of story. The way you could plug human characters into that kind of relationship and get a revolted reaction from the same people who otherwise gleefully "ship it" just really drives it home to me how unhealthy and weird it would really be.
Anyway, it wasn't really anything big like that, just small stuff - a few words here, a few words there, you know what I mean. The internal commentary to reading the letter, for example, just cut up the flow of it to me. Little things. All in all, I thought it was well done.
Should be doting.
Oh! Heheh... Oops? I thought I'd PM'd you... You're welcome anyway!
6586961 I have acredited you as should deserve! Thank you very much for your help!
6585572 I'd actually consider writting that idea as some sort of messed up april fools prank!
if only because it sounds so over the top!
6586992 *deep and gravelly voice* My influence grows... Soon, I will rule ALL OF EQUESTRIA!!! Mwahah! MWAHAHAHAHAH!!!
Near perfect. This so neatly covers so many aspects of Celestia's character that make so much sense from how she's portrayed, and doesn't fall into a lot of the traps that come from not thinking through the implications of the setting. Quite the opposite, Celestia's problems come from overthinking, which naturally she would be prone to doing, given how far reaching the effects of her actions can be.
It always makes me sad though, when people show up just to bang on about how creepy it would be for these two to have some sort of relationship for which they're jumping to all kinds of conclusions right off the bat. This sort of attitude seems to show no empathy whatsoever towards the characters, and is only concerned with how they'd be seen, rather than being worried about the difficulties the characters themselves would face.
Anyway, this piece reflects the feelings that went into this picture with uncanny precision, and I'm glad it was brought to my attention.
6587187 So you are the artist behind the artwork?
I'm honored that you give me such praise. The picture was my main motivation for the story and was just so gorgeous I had to write a story around it. It just made so much sense, had so much emotion without much context.
I really wanted an accurate Celestia since here characterization is key to the story. If I made it a simple ship piece then I feel it would take away from the realism of the complex relationship Twilight and Celestia. So it's great seeing so many people say I managed to capture that and Celestia's thoughts!
Thank you so much!
and thank you for creating such a wonderful piece of art!
It is so rare that I find a piece where Celestia falls for Twilight that I can really believe. They just have such a cut and dry dynamic. But I could very well see this Celestia being real, and it is quite possibly the most real I have ever seen this line of thinking. For what it's worth, well done.
6587251 Yup, that's me. I wasn't sure from the description and comments whether the story was based on the picture, or whether it was just something that you were writing anyway that happened to fit really well with the image. I'm equally honored, then, to know that I inspired a story with this piece.
The signs of a good story are things like that bitter sweet feeling in the pit of your stomach, you like what you read/saw but you're sad too. You wish it would continue or end a different way but you also realize that if it changed, you would not have the same love for it. This story was beautiful, man.
Old idea or not, I liked this story. I started crying at the end. Good job.
gawd how I hate romance stories where the protagonists can't get their shit together "because reasons".
This story desperately needs a sequel. Tags: [Romance][Comedy]. All these sad tropes subverted thoroughly.
Say, with Loona's guidance all of Equestria taking up a mission to hook up their two princesses together through some RubeGoldbergsque intrigue.
Stories like yours feel just frustrating when taken straight. This just begs to be subverted. It's a conflict so easy to resolve that it would take, like, one paragraph of a story to get a simple good outcome. So applying a total overkill of a resolution yields an exhilarating story. Not doing it is a plain waste!
Excellent!! wonderful writing!!
I liked this a lot. helluva lot. The idea of Celestia feeling so terribly alone, reached out to me.
Towards the Luna portion where emotions and conflict ran high there seemed to be an increase in typos, but it was minimally distracting.
I liked that she bailed out at the end, though I wouldn't be surprised if a 'well-intentioned' draconequus might send the letter anyway. it would be interesting to see how Twilight would react.
though on a side note, a ship doesn't have to be carnal. This feels like it might be more friend than friend with benefits.
That was magnificent!
Two things I spotted that you might wanna take a look at, though:
If not for that, it would've been smooth sailing right to the end
Other than those, this was a wonderful read!
Beautiful story. I really really hope Celestia will send the letter one day. Better earlier then later.
6588923 40.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6yoq4rxsG1qc5ffho1_1280.jpg
6587471 I second this, we need more, a resolution.... please
Holy crap ow! right in the feels
I am in awe. I loved it!
I really liked the story, but it needs part 2. Romance never really ends on such a note, so it would be fitting to see where this will go. Will it end in Twilestia or eveolve into something different?
6590387 I will refer back Wlah's answer with regards to a potential sequel. I don't currently feel that a sequel is warranted for the story, unless there is a sudden massive demand, then it probably will not happen. Even if it did, I'd still be admittedly reluctant.
I feel that a more happy romantic conclusion would significantly weaken the tone and the theme I established in Letters, especially with regards to Celestia's characterisation . Not all romance ends in happiness and sadly this is one of those cases.
Though I am not exactly saying that this is the definite end. Any reader can interpret what happens to the characters after a story, it's just not my place to do so with regards to how I ended this story.
Thank you anyway for enjoying the story!
6587908 My idea was that Celestia was kind of a reverse Quasimodo from the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Unlike poor Quasi who lived in terrible conditions, she is surrounded by luxury and decadence, but in many ways it’s a gilded cage all the same. Thus the theme of kind of wanting to be like Twilight is mirroring the sort of ‘Out there’ motif people like to apply to her. She kind of just wants to be normal…
I tried to leave the relationship deliberately ambiguous so both shippers and non-shippers alike can enjoy the story, though it’s definitely leaning towards a more romantic relationship. You could easily though substitute it with friendship if you perhaps ignore the final dream...
I am so glad my story was able to reach to you on an emotional level, kinda of makes all the work worth it!
6590513 I do love the golden cage.
6590256
Thing is, that "complete coward" supposedly has friends, right? And quite brave ones too, right? Sensitive as well? And pretty smart? Well-intentioned? Duh?
I mean, looking at the actual "difficulty" of the task at hoof versus the level of the drama...
If you hadn't put in the romantic tag, I would never have thought it was a sad romance. Since I didn't notice the tag when I first read it, I thought it was more of an 'empty nest' parent or emotionally distant immortal reaction. Still well characterized either way.
6590256
Exactly. So many stories here ruin themselves by not knowing when to have their characters fold it.
awww common no happy ending
6590487
Thanks for the answer.
To clarify, I didn't mean that i want this story to end with happy and fulfilling romance for Celestia and Twilight. A story about unfulfilled love can be as interesting.
Rather that the story feels incomplete without some sort of continuation. After seeing Celestia state in this story , it really makes me wonder what will happen next - after all she is bound to meet Twilight at official functions and events and what thoughts and emotions she would have because of that.
Time in the cartoon is very imprecise. Though I never much liked the idea that Twilight took only a year to become a princess.
"see"
Ending quotation mark here.
Feels like words are missing here.
This had a sweet but sad feeling about it. Celestia just can't work up the courage and the readers and Luna ache for her.
Just send the goddamn letter!
6593989 Thank you for pointing out some of the errors present. I was sure there were some there I hadn't caught.
As for the relation to timescale, I can only follow what the show is giving me. In which as pointed out that a year had passed between seasons 1,2 and 3. While the second year is in progress around the time of season 4 and 5. I had always intially thought each season was a year but hey what do I know
6594027
Where was it pointed out Seasons 1, 2, and 3 only cover a year? I probably missed that little bit especially since episodes don't make sense chronologically when the background is taken into account.
orig11.deviantart.net/b4d6/f/2015/298/3/1/s5e20__hearthbreakers____deleted_scene_by_theelinker-d9echfd.gif
6594167 Celestia if I remember correctly, said something along the lines that a year has passed since the last Summer Sun Celebration at the start of season 4. As far as I'm aware the only chronilogical events are the two parter episodes at the start and the end of each season, thus we get the skewed timescale of a halloween episode coming out after the Christmas one.
Honestly I wouldn't think too much about it. Least you go mad.
6594217
I just say it is up to the author but there is nothing really set in stone other than character personalities. I can then go happily romping through other people's headcanon and enjoy it.