Equestria was a new nation when Duchess Celestia of the unicorn tribe accepted her next mission: prevent a rogue group of hostile earth ponies from attacking the San Palomino stronghold. She must protect her friends and her country, especially now that she has a sibling waiting in the future.
Unfortunately, the politics of unicornian life are full of deadly pitfalls, and not just of the physical kind. The deeper Celestia gets into the game, the more she risks forgetting what exactly is at stake.
Originally Intended as a Contestant of FanOfMostEverything's Imposing Sovereigns challenge. Personal Prompt: "Celestia the Schemer".
Chapters (5)
Well now. This is certainly thrilling. On the one hand, it's a shame it never saw the contest, but now you can weave a fascinating tale without worrying about the word count. I look forward to it.
That being said, I hope you have a good reason for the national saboteur given the near-extinction of the species due to infighting.
8043665
Like I said in your blog, I probably could have submitted it if I'd been bright enough to realize incomplete fics were OK at the time. That said, the material I did have wouldn't have fit the "Celestia the Schemer" prompt particularly well. "Celestia the Warrior", maybe.
As for the saboteur, well... only three ponies directly saw the windigoes, and the only unicorn among them is a wannabe Star Swirl. Plenty of room for... "reinterpretation", shall we say... or perhaps there were one or two "misunderstandings"... you know how it goes with these semi-delirious self-punishing explorer types...
8045417
True. It's like you said in the other reply, Curse of Knowledge. I know it, so I expect thr characters to know it.
8045449
Now I just have to remember to put that in the fic at some point, instead of leaving in a gaping plothole I just talked about.
Interesting. A bit obtuse and oddly paced, but still engaging.
8052184
Well, I'm glad you liked it, but also curious about your choice of adjectives. In particular, I admit I'm wondering in what way it comes across as "obtuse".
8052707 I personally found it a bit hard to follow. It avoids exposition dumps, which is good, but it also leaves a lot unsaid. Like when exactly this takes place (after the tribes unified, but months, years, a decade after?), what Celestia's role is (she's a Duchess...of Celestia? What/where is that?), what exactly is up with the copper (obviously it's a thing, but I feel like I'm missing something), etc..
Well. This is several shades of not good. A possibly mad but definitely shrewd king who refuses to accept the world is changing and doing his best to reverse the course of history. Worse, he's got one of the major forces of change shaking in her horseshoes. I'm not at all sure where you're taking this from here.