When Princesses Celestia and Luna visit a public art gallery, they come upon a painting of Celestia, banished to the moon. They react to this in the only reasonable way: artistic criticism and analysis.
*****
Cover art by that paragon of good sportsmanship and all-around talented person, Rocket Lawn Chair.
Originally written for the Reversal of Fortune writeoff, with the cover art as the prompt. Thank you to everyone there for the pre-reading and advice, and to Pascoite for his (always invaluable) additional help and editing suggestions!
Now available in Spanish, courtesy of SPANIARD KIWI.
Now available in Russian, courtesy of oranzinispegasas.
Chapters (1)
Oops, just realized I forgot to create that round's folder for the Writeoff group. Went and added your story while I was at it.
Good to see this making its way over from Writeoffland! And always great to see more words from you.
You really captured well the banter you'd expect between Celestia and Luna.
Poor old Lawn Chair :(
Yup, that is very much how Celestia and Luna would react to such painting (Nice touch with Luna being the most aggravated one for Celestia's sake!)
And for the record: the painting looks less "banishment to the Moon", and more "I should not have take that turn on Phillydelphia..."
I love sibling banter.
When did we start discussing jakkid stories?
Solid banter and solid writing!
Couple typos:
9491599
Ah, see, that's the point. By treating banishment to the moon as a mere inconvenience, rather than a dire calamity, it lessens the gravitas of the situation. It's a way of absolving Celestia, of saying that what she did isn't that bad and she doesn't have to keep feeling guilty about it.
Hey, this art criticism stuff is pretty easy!
9491692
It is a valid way to see it!
This was wonderful.
9491578
Much obliged
9491688
Oopsie! How do those last few typos always seem to survive the publication process... lemme go fix that up!
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9491599
Nice to see you getting into the spirit!
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And thank you to all of you (and the others, too!) for reading! It's been a few years since I visited the feature box (that's what I get for barely writing anything); I'd forgotten how much fun it is to get a bajillion new notifications.
Poor Lawn Chair. It is a cute painting though.
I really hope some of the notables do a "Never the Final Word" for this one. Calling Estee? Georg? Cold in Gardez?
For this fic, I LOVE IT!
In regards to artistic pieces to muse over, I am ever thankful that a humorous piece was chosen over... Other possibilities!
Finally, someone who understands how Nightmare Moon was imprisoned appropriately. Instead of all these people thinking Luna/NMM were just sitting in a crater and cursing at the planet in the sky for a thousand years.
Deep, intellectual overthinking, cute royal sister moments, and a comedic ending? Sign me up!!
9491945 But I thought Luna was sent to our Moon and met Lance Armstrong right after he found the Monolith!
To one such as Saitama, merely being cast to the Moon is a minor inconvenience!
ALL HAIL THE CAPED BALDY!!
Brilliant work in both the sisters' dynamic and the meta-analysis of the fandom's perception of Celestia over the years. Plus, it's a genuinely amusing read. Thank you for it.
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And in the event someone does, please reply to this comment so I can see it and add it to the compilation that much more easily.
9491945
I know, right? Mare IN the Moon, not Mare ON the Moon!
Oh my aching sides, this was great!
Ah, Luna. All the diplomacy of a lemon wrapped around a large gold brick.
I love having seemingly deep conversions over absolutely nothing important, it gives me the opertunity to be a pretentious flip spouting
half philosophical half b.s. commentary
This was perfectly amazing! This was a really good comedy and slice of life that feels like a normal MLP show would have about the Princesses. You did amazing with the characters and how you wrote them in a way that fit really good.
Awesome job!
Oh, finally! Someone get it. It's pretty much what WoG said about NMM imprisonment.
That seems more like a prayer, or a wish than a reason.
9492501
How wonderful! An art analysis used as a social analysis through character analysis.
Also wonderfully written and characterized, which always helps.
Also also incredibly fun.
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Ok this has been driving me around the bend for about an hour now so I just have to ask. What does WoG stand for?
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Word of God.
A term used to mean information directly from the person who made the thing.
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Thanks I was going through any acronyms in the show but none fit.
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It’s even better if you take art classes. They aren’t trying to teach you how to BS per se, but you definitely learn how to.
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You get some of that same effect in writing and literature classes too, and I couldn't help, as an English major, but recall sitting through classes that run a lot like the princesses' conversation here and wondering to myself if that was really the original intent of the work's creator.
That said, I really like Celestia's interpretation of the piece, especially the political commentary she derives from it, but at the same time I ultimately have to side with Luna a bit more--probably overanalyzing it just a bit.
9493023
Very true. Film theory as well tends in that direction at times.
9492733
WoG - Word of God.
UPD.
Oh, someone already answered this :).
It's true!
*while reading the story*
I'm starting to believe they are overthinking the picture.
*after reading the story*
I still believe so.
And someone please bring poor Lawn Chair an lawn chair to sit down.
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Like she's--richly sour?
"Nightmare’s possession"
*Deal breaker. Closes story.*
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You should not leave a conversation
*giggles wildly* This was a wonderful read!
9493299
more this
*rereads yet again*
I loved this.
Really fun look into the dynamic between Celestia and Luna. Kind of like a pool with the deep and shallow ends of discussing subjects. Face value or 'hidden' meanings.
Especially like Luna at the end. Can just imagine her saying in her head, "Welp, time to earn that holiday they named after me."
This painting's a fake!
Not a funny hahahaha
, but a more 
haha,
Amusing, I like the discussion, how it can be over-analyst something with the bit of sibling banter and history behind it. Reminds me of my own interaction with my sibling today, its nice.
That, and me trying to complete a set
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Get this person a copy of the Guide, stat!
Quite a fun story, on a number of levels. Now I kinda want to see the Princesses criticize more art!
Loved it. Nice to learn there is a new challenge to ‘A Thousand Nights in a Hallway’ for the status of most thought-provoking work in the contemporary Equestrian art scene.
Lawn Chair really needs to toughen up or she won't last long in the creative industry. There are far more ruthless critics out there.
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I SINCERELY hope you're joking?
This was obviously not meant to be taken literally, as the text latter goes on to confirm that NMM and Luna were not completely seperate entities in this universe.
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The whole comic canon of Luna being possessed by an outside force ruins the entire idea of her being redeemed. I don't care if the whole world is against me, I won't bow.
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You mean the Comic's of questionable canoncity? And how does that even RELATE to this story? The misuse of a word.
9495659
Comic = Luna being possessed.
This story = Luna being possessed.
Thank you and goodnight.