This story is a sequel to To Be a Princess
It’s a wide world out there, and Zipp Storm wants to see it all. Too bad she spends most of her time locked up in a castle. The burdens of royalty and popularity don’t sit well on her shoulders—not like they do on her sister’s, at any rate. Her passions and destiny lie outside the walls of the castle or the streets of Zephyr Heights.
So what if she has to sneak out without getting caught? By this point, she’s pretty good at it.
Flurry Heart has found a kindred spirit.
Part 4 of Equestrian Scions, which began with Your Faithful Disciple; this story is preceded by To Be a Princess, and followed by the conclusion, Shine Like the Sun.
Cover art by Swaybat, used without explicit permission. If the use of the art offends, I will gladly remove it.
09/02 - 9/03 - Despite the controversy in the comments (or perhaps because of it), featured. Thank you, though given the feedback so far I think this is far from my best work.
Celestia's record speaks for itself. Precious few states last a millennium and more - Twilight's and Flurry's seem to have collapsed in the span of a generation, with all the attendant effects on trade, productivity, interconnectedness, learning, and life expectancy that one would expect. More, actually - not content with contracting into a petty state like the earth ponies and pegasi, the unicorns have collapsed into being an outright non-state people. If Celestia's statesmareship had a fault, it was abdicating in favor of such manifest incompetents.
The charge of stagnancy doesn't stick either. The Pillars found the realm far from familiar.
I've never managed to get around to finishing the story where I delved more into it, but yes, Celestia represents stability and stagnation. I don't know if Discord scarred her as much as Luna's banishment did, but at any rate, bravo on this one.
10960423
Stagnation of what sort? Not social or technological or political - unless we are to suppose that Equestria had telephones (as in Manehattan) or hydroelectric power (as in Ponyville), or a comprehensive rail network a thousand years before Twilight's time (all of which seems unreasonable); or that it was always a unified society ruled by a single powerful empire (both of which we know for a fact are not true).
State longevity alone does not imply stagnation. Eastern Rome survived as a state for a millennium and its incarnation in 1400 would have been unrecognizable to someone from the fifth century. What it does imply is increased across-the-board quality of life for its citizens over non-state peoples, cultural exchange, and attendant developments in learning and technology - state collapse implies the opposite.
We know the realm of Equestria made things better across the board within its territory, the Pillars say as much in Shadow Play. So what's supposed to be the downside?
10960394 Amazing. Every word of what you said was wrong. One generation? You really think all this happened in, what, a hundred years or so? Two-hundred? Hell no. Equestria's founding was a tale told for well over a thousand years. An era doesn't get labeled "ancient" in only a century or two, and given the Equestria we saw in The Last Problem, the idea that that utopia, created by Twilight and her friends, only lasted a couple of centuries is obscenely stupid and hilarious in how dumb it is.
I love meeting people who pretend the show they claim to love didn't progress past season 1. It's so much fun being exposed to blatant ignorance.
Flurry puts it pretty well, but let's expand on this, shall we?
Yeah, if the Mane 6 and Spike had taken over back in Season 1, what you're saying would certainly be accurate. But that's why they were groomed for the role. Dragonshy is literally a diplomatic mission to talk down a threat before it becomes a real problem. Yes, it would've failed if Fluttershy wasn't really good at invoking empathy in others. That's because this was Season 1, where the characters were at their most flawed, least deep levels of characterization and nopony had, really, any experience dealing with other creatures, especially not dragons.
This failure is why Season 4 featured an arc about Twilight learning to lead more than just her friends, and why Season 5's Party Pooped was literally Diplomacy 101, and was all about another sapient species and their culture. Hell, most of the Map Missions can be summed up as diplomacy training! The entire idea behind diplomacy is friendship.
And once diplomacy is down and the kingdom's defenses are set, which Twilight, unlike Celestia, basically made it impossible to Checkmate Equestria with how many creatures would step up to save it, anything else was pitifully easy. Twilight is a smart pony who loves reading. This has been the single defining character trait of hers that has never, ever not been present in her personality. After only three seasons she became a princess because of how good at friendship she got.
But now for the really important thing.
What. In the hell. Could possibly make you think that, even if Twilight didn't already have at least a basic grasp of how running a kingdom works, that she wouldn't do her damn research and/or figure it out on the job?!? All she needed to do to be worthy of ruling Equestria after season 7 was get over her tendency to panic, a tendency that had been slowly getting better by that point anyway, and far more importantly, a flaw that, after Lesson Zero, her friends have never failed to help her calm down enough to start planning things properly, to say nothing of Cadance's breathing technique which helped her immensely, even if was used rather scarcely and slightly inconsistently.
tl;dr Twilight and her friends (you know, the five ponies and young dragon who took over Equestria with her) were ready to rule by the time they opened the School of Friendship, something that also helped them figure out how to rule the kingdom. Sure, Twilight and Spike have to consider the pros and cons of new and old laws, and figure out trade routes and stuff, but they already knew how to keep Equestria and it's neighbors friendly, happy, and safe.
Seriously, even without her five best friends and kid brother, Twilight was surrounded with friends and creatures willing to give her some time to figure out the whole "Ruler of Equestria" thing at her own pace, not to mention that Celestia and Luna left the kingdom in such a way that Twilight already had a strong foundation to work off of.
Give me five examples of Twilight and company being "manifest incompetence" that they repeated more than three times. If I can't refute them, then I might buy into your bullcrap.
10960427
The Pillars were also in Limbo for at least a few years before Luna was banished. We know nothing of Celestia's time as sole ruler, which is what she's being called out for in this fic and to a lesser degree Graymane Shadow's comment. The three tribes united, but aside from technological and magical advancement, that's all that really seems to have happened between banishing Nightmare Moon and then Luna getting saved. Maybe Griffons and Yaks had some degree of alliance with Equestria, but they clearly weren't as close as they became with Twilight and company helping out, and while I haven't seen the Movie I know enough to say the same likely applies to the Hippogriffs.
Meanwhile the Changelings and Dragons and Kirins have no notable placement in Equestrian society or history that we know of from the show. Ponies knew little to nothing about Dragons and Kirins before Twilight and Company helped them out, and we don't know jack about canon Changeling history in the show-- it's pretty safe, in my opinion, to say they might not have even been known to exist before the Canterlot invasion.
10960427
While I do not particularly enjoy encouraging conflicts in my comments section, I feel a need to elaborate here.
First, if there is evidence that Twilight’s reign fell apart within “a single generation,” I have yet to see it, so I will protest you clinging to this idea as fact.
Secondly...
Your reaction seems to be a misinterpretation--which, I admit, could entirely be my fault, as I fully admit to not always writing what I mean to say. You are suggesting that I proposed that Celestia accomplished nothing over her reign, which is untrue. As you say, there is plenty of evidence within the show itself that suggests otherwise. Nor do I mean to imply that Celestia was a bad ruler; Flurry Heart, as I present her, is short-tempered and does not always say what she means either.
Nevertheless, we do see that under Twilight Sparkle’s reign, Equestria achieves a multicultural prosperity that we did not see in the early seasons, when Celestia was still firmly in charge and we were seeing Equestria before any of the sweeping changes Twilight’s ascension brought about. Yes, it is true that Equestria is different now than it was in the era of the pillars, and this is not totally unlike a member of the Roman republic being abruptly transported to the waning days of the empire. Nevertheless, Equestria as presented by season one was, in relative terms, narrow-minded and close-bordered. Dragons were threats to be dealt with by heroes, not a people unto themselves with a culture of their own. Griffons and zebras were treated with suspicion and fear rather than curiosity. Even “everypony” can have hints of equine centrism.
Celestia was a flawed ruler. Not a bad ruler, but a flawed one. I had an extremely condensed space to explore that idea, and I apologize for failing to do it justice.
10960503
And suddenly I realize how aggressive I was. Although I feel it's noteworthy that Gilda didn't really seem to have any suspicion thrown her way by anypony but Pinkie until she snapped at the party, and even then, the ponies were upset that she left the way she did, including Pinkie. Actually, I think the only pony with any real problems with the griffons was Dash, who was mostly bitter about Gilda. I know Gilda roared at Fluttershy, so obviously Flutters wasn't her biggest fan, but I don't recall her expressing any kind of issue with griffons other than Gilda.
Your other points are valid though, and I stand by my own points, but...
10960394
I do apologize for my aggressiveness. I really shouldn't be letting myself get so peeved so easily, but much like Fluttershy's shyness, I keep learning and then backtracking. Like I said, I stand by my points, but I do wish I'd presented them more calmly and I don't mean to treat you as an idiot (though I probably came off both as calling you one and making myself look like one, or at least a prick).
I'd also like to add, both to my own points and the author's, that Twilight became the ruler she was because of Celestia's guidance. Celestia allowed things to stagnate for a while, at least based on what we know from the show, but she's also ultimately the reason Twilight and company were able to do what they did. Without Celestia's Equestria, the mane six never would've united as heroes, let alone united their world like they did.
Neither of us are saying that Celestia was bad, in fact the main idea in the show and that I at least am trying to make clear is that Twilight is a better ruler than Celestia, but she only got to be better because Celestia ruled as she did and guided her in the journey to becoming a better leader in her own right. (I think LysanderasD means the same thing, but I don't want to put words in another's mouth)
10960427
It goes back to the point that Flurry Heart raised: That she and Twilight achieved more in 10 years than Celestia did in 1,000. We can see this reflected out a bit just looking at Twilight and the rapidity of the world changing around her prior to and after her ascension, and especially once she began taking a more active role in governing Equestria. Before Twilight, non-ponies in Equestria were a novelty; afterwards, they were the norm.
Some of this may have been beyond Celestia's control, and maybe what really drives the progress of a society is external pressures (of which, we see, the rest of the world was either unwilling or unable to apply to Equestria). Or maybe, thinking her a paragon, ponies were unwilling to try anything they thought might displease her, and she never bothered to encourage them to try anyway.
Or maybe, just maybe, she was so convinced that Equestria would fall apart if she was anything other than completely sure and steady, she was herself unwilling to take the risks that come with progress. Who can say?
10960584
Thank you for returning to the story and commenting with a more level head; I appreciate that you came to this story’s defense, but I appreciate more that you realized your aggressive turn. That said, if I had written this piece to communicate my ideas better, I don’t think the issue would have come up, so I take responsibility for indirectly provoking you nonetheless.
I may have spoken out of turn with the griffon comment, so I will rescind that.
This story was not originally supposed to center on this conflict, but sometimes characters strike out in their own direction and all the author can do is follow along.
As to your final comment: Yes, this is essentially what I intended to say, and if I were a better writer I’d have spent more time on carefully conveying the idea rather than pushing toward the finish line. As I have said above, I perceive Celestia as flawed, but she is the one who laid the foundation for the entirety of the events of FiM, including and especially Twilight’s ascension.
In this sense, there is value in Celestia’s cautious prudence; it’s just that, given the contrast between Equestria as presented in s01e01 and s09e26 (and the gradual transition between them we observe over the series), I cannot help but see Celestia as worse by comparison. And one does not rule a country for over a thousand years without establishing some deeply ingrained habits--habits that she herself might not be aware of, and must have pointed out to her, as Flurry does here.
In short, I think perhaps my greatest missed opportunity in this story is that I failed to point out, as Greymane Shadow did, that Celestia represents both stability and stagnation, and that there are many good results of her rule as much as there are bad ones, up to and including Twilight and the other Elements.
10960604
This summarizes my thoughts quite well. Ultimately, the looks we get into Celestia’s character are finite, and we are given essentially nothing of her thought process over how she ruled Equestria in the interim between Luna’s banishment and return. As you say: Who can say?
I personally believe in a combination of all of these factors. Celestia, as I see her, received little pressure both internally (from the ponies she ruled, who demonstrably revere her as unimpeachable and, especially early on, borderline divine) and externally (from other nations, none of whom would want to mess with the pony in charge of the Sun). And while Celestia has enough self-awareness to not let this get to her head too much (i.e., she does not think of herself as invincible the way, say, Twilight does at the beginning of the series), she came to value the resulting stability more than she valued progress, and was unwilling to take risks without some balancing factor (i.e., Luna) to reign in her ideas and desires.
I do not wish to present Celestia’s attitude in this story as vanity. I don’t think of it that way. Rather the opposite: Celestia in this story is a result of her being terrified of vanity, and thus all too eager to absolve herself of responsibility when given the chance. But she, like all of us, is her own worst critic, and perceives herself as being much worse than she is.
Between that, and Flurry’s own flaring temper, I fear that the story I presented was not the one I wanted. The fact that all of this story’s comments so far focus on this conflict is proof enough of that. There may be some revisions to this text later on to better convey what I intended.
Edited to fix a mistake in episode numbering, fix a punctuation error, and slightly expand my thoughts in one place.
Preface: apology accepted @Damon Wolf Cub. I didn't take your words or your tone personally to begin with.
10960486
Ancientry is a feeling more than anything you can assign a concrete number to. We call the period prior to the first century AD "ancient" because it's what sixteenth-century historians called the period they felt preceded the period that directly preceded their own - the middle ages. If ancientry cannot in this case refer to the second-to-last period before one's own, because we know of no period intervening between Sunny's and Twilight's; in that case, Celestia's rule would be ancient to Sunny and her contemporaries.
If, however, ancientry is a concrete measure of temporal distance, then the about 1,500 years used by the sixteenth-century scholars is a decent measuring stick. From Twilight's time, that lands you about four hundred years before Celestia's reign. FiM (excluding The Last Problem) spanned about five years of Equestrian history, judging by the number of Hearths Warmings (Hearth's Warming Eve in Season 2, Hearthbreakers in Season 5, A Hearth's Warming Tale in Season 6, The Hearth's Warming Club in Season 8, and The Best Gift Ever between Seasons 8 and 9). The Last Problem skips about fifteen years into the future, judging by how not just the ponies but also Spike has aged (that is, he's still pretty young, while the ponies are middle-aged). So we don't see too far into Twilight's reign. Judging by this metric, Sunny's time is still about 1,500 years ahead of Twilight's.
But this isn't terribly plausible, because Sunny's contemporaries know what Twilight and her friends looked like well enough to craft accurate figurines of them. By contrast, early modern Europeans had no idea what, say, Jesus of Nazareth looked like at the time they were periodizing the ancient world, and depicted him however was convenient despite him being as central or more to their culture as Twilight and her friends would be to Sunny's. We know Twilight and her friends were depicted in contemporary (unpainted) statuary, but this wouldn't have told figurine-makers what their colors were. Also telling against much time having passed, Sunny's collection also includes a banner with Celestia's cutie mark on it; if Twilight's reign lasted a long time and ended only a few hundred years before Sunny's time, you'd expect Celestia's iconography to have been forgotten, but it wasn't. For both Celestia's reign and Twilight's to still be in historical memory, it makes more sense to me that Twilight's reign only lasted a few generations, maybe as few as one.
I would also caution strongly against seeing Twilight's regime as of The Last Problem as a utopia. Seeing Equestria as a utopia in the early seasons was a not uncommon take, but it was based solely on aesthetic presentation, which is also all we get from The Last Problem. And it remained a popular take though we learned in Season 1 that Equestria had subjugated one bovine race for agricultural labor and was in the process of colonizing another's land. And even though we knew about extreme class stratification in Equestrian society, with both aristocrats like Blueblood and haute-bourgeois like Filthy Rich very much in evidence (to say nothing of the absolute fucking monarchy).
Don't confuse credentialing or training with competence. To take one example, Rudy Giuliani is a barred attorney, but is also bad at lawyering. The proof of competence is in the pudding: we know for indisputable fact that the Equestrian state collapsed after Twilight took power. It is true that during her reign Equestria was more open to the outside world, but that is an ideological project that comes second to state survival; a state can't do ideological projects once it ceases to exist. There may or may not be a causal link between Twilight taking power and the Equestrian state collapsing; it would be a real shame if there was a causal link between Twilight adopting a more cosmopolitan policy and the Equestrian state collapsing, since it would send a very unfortunate message. Also an inaccurate one - the strongest and most resilient states have historically been those most willing to welcome outsiders.
It is also clear that very little of Equestria's change in policy was instigated or executed by Twilight herself. The map pointedly didn't send her to Griffonstone - for an idea why not, see A Royal Problem, where Twilight butting into a map mission she wasn't called for only caused disaster. It was down to Pinkie and Rainbow to actually befriend the griffons. Similarly, when Twilight and Rarity accompanied Spike to the Gauntlet of Fire, they remained hidden at almost all times and did as little as possible. The friendmaking was all done by Spike. Spike was also the one who reached out to Thorax, over Twilight's objections and physical attempts to shut him up. As for the yaks, Twilight's attempts at diplomacy were actually her stepping out of line. The summit wasn't supposed to begin until Celestia arrived, but Twilight took it upon herself to start early and prove herself to Celestia. This led to utter disaster, where Twilight's inability to listen to the yaks' demands for authenticity led to their declaring war on Equestria, and Pinkie had to pull Twilight's chestnuts out of the fire. Finally, Twilight derailed the -successful, and again Pinkie-led - attempt at diplomacy with Novo and the hippogriffs by attempting to steal the Pearl of Transformation. All of this was in the second half of the series, after Season 4. It was also all before Season 8 and Twilight's big decision to open her school to foreign students, so she didn't even come up with the idea. Twilight's contributions were either minimal or counterproductive, but she did get to take the credit.
10960604
To say again, first and foremost, the state must survive. This is not just a matter of international relations or political science theory either; the one and only affirmative duty laid on the princesses of Equestria is to protect the realm. Pursuing other policy ends is both less important than, and predicated upon, state survival. Celestia manifestly managed to avoid state collapse, which we know because she handed the reins to a successor after a 1,112-year reign. Twilight manifestly did not, which we know because Equestria no longer exists by Sunny's time. Accordingly, Celestia is the better statesmare and doesn't deserve criticism from ponies whose record at statesmareship is demonstrably worse than hers. Especially if they consciously placed other priorities above state survival, in dereliction of their duty.
Ok so flurry heart was keeping an eye on Zipp Storm and she can see a potential in her that she can help other ponies to bring back Harmony and this conversation between Celestia and Flurry was pretty intense but also pretty nice and it looks like Princess Celestia is also going to how about the situation and it looks like she's going for one more Pony and we all know who that last point is I wonder how this will work out guess we'll find out in the next chapter this was pretty good can't wait for the next one keep up the good work
Also they should put a tag name for Zipp Storm and Pipp Petals
10960796
That's fair, but it doesn't mean I have to like it.
While I do get where’s Flurry’s coming from I do feel she’s selling Celestia a bit short of what she actually accomplished in her rule. She forged a civilisation almost complete peace abs harmony that gave ponies the ability to become their best selves. She was somewhat of the perfect leader that Equestria needed, almost all her issues mainly came from personal problems.
While yes it became stagnant she’s selfless enough to know when to step down, which I do love that this story touched upon.
But enough of that, I love that Celestia and Flurry did actually apologised to each other. Shows how much great respect they hold for one another and the bond they’ve forged over the years.
Also loved all the little glimpses into Flurries childhood, how the Pegasi gene “skipped a generation”. That was both adorable and hilarious.
Overall another great story and can’t wait to see how Celestia handles hitch.
Normally I give my thoughts on this story, but this comment sums them up for me:
10961512
Anyways, I really like this series. So far you've done great job with the whole "passing the torch" theme. Looking forward to Sun-butt and Hitch.
10960796
I’m going to inject myself into the conversation one last time, because it didn’t feel right for me to not address your arguments, well-presented as they are.
I appreciate your thoughts. In fact, I admire the amount you were willing to put down in this comment section. You read as someone who is highly educated and knows quite a bit about the finer points of sociopolitical... everything. Certainly you know more than I do, and have a firmer grasp of what “being a princess” means for Equestria (or for a political body in general), the responsibilities thereof, the ramifications of acting or not acting and, overall, the objective measure of success of a monarch.
I do not intend to argue with you. Objectively, much of what you proposed is correct, and I am not nearly as educated in this subject as I would need to be to attempt to debate with you. But subjectively, as the person who wrote this work, it appears to me that you have missed the point I was trying to make--which, lest I be accused of pointing fingers, is not necessarily your fault.
To expand, there is an underlying philosophy I have held throughout the writing of all of these stories. It has been present to some extent in every piece, though I have never expressly verbalized it within the text. The philosophy, in its simplest form, is this:
The survival of Equestria as a sociopolitcal body is secondary to the survival of Harmony.
This is to say that, while your astute observations on the objective success or failure of Celestia, Twilight, or Flurry as monarchs within the bounds of their political spheres are correct, they are not what I intended to comment on, and the emotional climax of the story was meant to be the fact that Flurry and Celestia apologize to each other, rather than debate success or failure. Mutual understanding is the foundation for the most powerful force in the setting, and such a force is not bound or constrained by the borders of a country as defined by a map.
While I would strongly hesitate to ascribe the trappings of religion to the setting of MLP, the fact remains that there is, by all accounts, an objectively benevolent fundamental force which guides the world. Harmony--that is, Friendship--is a real, tangible force in this setting; the Tree of Harmony expresses an identity and a will, and within the context of FiM, the world undergoes periods of chaos (whether Discord is overtly involved or no) and then periods of harmony; this is to say that the world itself follows a sort of narrative arc. It is subject to, subservient to, the nature of storytelling, because Harmony strives ever for happily ever after. And Twilight and the other princesses are aware of this; they bow to it. That was one of the core ideas of Your Faithful Disciple.
To wit, while the survival of the state is paramount, within the context of the setting of MLP generations 4 and 5, there is another perfectly valid and objective measure of success, which is the ability of Harmony to exist and propagate itself; this, by its nature, leads to prosperity and cooperation on a grand scale. Equestria as a state is irrelevant to Harmony; at best, it is merely a vehicle. Utopia is not a thing presided over only by pony princesses.
The way the history books observe the princesses and the way society as a whole observes them are thus, by definition, deeply distinct, and a failure by one measure is not a failure by the other necessarily. More specifically, the collapse of Equestria as a state some time following Twilight’s assumption of the throne may not be an objective failure by both measures. This, itself, is an important detail; this is not the same thing as saying the collapse of Equestria is Twilight’s fault (after all, “Twilight will not outlive her friends”; we have no idea what happened).
Stability is a valuable thing, and Equestia owes much of its prosperity to Celestia’s willingness to be stable. But willingness toward stability is, over a large enough timescale, the same thing as advocating for stagnation; this is the double-edged sword of Celestia’s philosophy, because an unchanging perfection (or something that tends toward unchanging perfection) is not harmonious nor beautiful. It is uncanny. Harmony thrives in controlled change (or, in a word, progress), and sometimes we find the best decisions we make are the ones that involve taking a risk.
I intend to explore this idea more explicitly in the concluding chapter of this series.
10962163
And this would be a perfectly valid position for any character who isn't a political leader to hold. A more valid position, even, than "survival of the state is paramount," because it is, as you say, a religious tenet in a world where that religion is objectively true. I'm of the opinion that one of FiM's major missteps was to attempt to apply interpersonal friendship lessons to statecraft and international relations, along with giving the main cast political power. "State collapse is an acceptable outcome of liberalizing reform" is far from the only weird conclusion to follow from this decision.
Coverart sauce: https://twitter.com/Swaybat/status/1426188435014881282 (SFW)
10962625
I appreciate that, though a link should already be available--I put the source in on the story details page. Because of the resolution of the image, the “source” link only appears if you extend the description.
10962629 Oh! My apologies. The link only appears when you click "more info". I had mouse-overed the image first, but it didn't appear.
Nice choice in art, btw. Swaybat does great stuff.
10962631
It was my second choice, but I’ve grown to like it a fair bit more than my initial choice.
Thank you for double-checking; I have no desire to be a thief, but ensuring the source is available is helpful.
Dear [PERSON],
I, Posh, have written a comprehensive review of this story’s themes, ideas, and stench. You may read this review by following this link. Hope to see you there!
-Posh
Does this mean that Mr. Trailblazer gets to be tutored by Princess Celestia, or maybe Spike, or perhaps that he won't get a story at all?
10982603
Mr. Trailblazer will indeed get tutored by Princess Celestia! I just have to get that wrapped up, hopefully before the movie drops.
Real life has thrashed me for a while, but I do still intend to publish it as soon as I can.
10982918
Tick Tock.
Howdy, hi!
I gotta say not so sure that Flurry isn't more like her mother than she thinks. Both have proven to be rather gremlin-like in their habits as of these stories. Regardless, really great work. I love the talk between Celestia and Flurry. It's a really interesting interpretation of Celestia's reign that I quite enjoy. Flurry is also so interesting in how she's the "mature rebel", someone who still has that riotous spirit, but the maturity to know when best to use it.
Anyways, fantastic as always.
Zipp definitely took a bit of a backseat here, but that's hardly something to mind given what the story was able to focus on. her meditations on the changes to Canterlot, and the arbitrariness of her royal status in contrast with the alicorns' was great, as was the worldbuilding bit of magic gradually declining over the years, with the older pegasi remembering something at least a bit closer to it.
andi am loving this interaction between Celestia and Flurry! the contrast between the oldest and youngest alicorns, pointing out Celestia's conservatism, and the reasons for it, all of it is great stuff!
Ohhh, this is another great one. Zipp gets a little less focus in comparison, but she arguably needed it the least, and I like what you did with what was there anyway. Also, I just love the mirror between her musings on royalty and risk with Flurry and Celestia's conversation. Initially I was like "Oh heck yeah get her ass Flurry!" but then also as it went on, I could understand Celestia's perspective just as well. I'm really loving this series, and both excited for the final entry yet saddened by it being the end. Though of course, there is the movie itself to look forward to after this; while I'm not expecting it to have the same level of depth that you've accomplished here, I'm hopeful to at least see the ideas here reflected in it to some extent or another
But I digress. Point is, story good!
A shame that you didn't delve more into how Zipp Storm connects with Flurry and/or Celestia but the conversation between the first and last Alicorn from G4 was great as well!