Princess Celestia is gonna get shipped. She was always my favorite of the three Princesses, before Twilight's coronation at least. My first time considering shipping her was actually with the grief-stricken Master Chief in Halo: The Intruders. Needless to say, I ruled that out pretty damn quick. First off, I'm not breaking from my tradition of shipping with characters from video game universes. Nor am I breaking with my tradition of military experience for the protagonist. However, unlike other stories of mine, where the protagonist(s) is/are physically exceptional because of some sort of event(s) that made them better than most/all they served beside, he is a Badass Normal. Clone commandos were genetically modified and grown from prime genetic stock, Alcatraz was fused with a hi-tech supersuit, Mark was raised to be a soldier from a young age and physically altered to be a superior warrior, Marked Target was given superpowers in a freak accident. But this man is 100% organic free-range badass.

So I'm asking those of you with experience writing Princess Celestia, especially in romance fics, to lend a hand/hoof. Leave a comment and tell me what parts of her romances you think you're best at, and maybe give some advice. It's a lot easier to write the Mane 6, because there's so much canon about them already out there, but the Princesses have less material so it's harder to get them "right". I realize that leaves me more room for interpretation of her character, but I want this to be a believable romance, something where the reader can really see how she'd feel the way she does about certain things.

My interpretation is that she's idealistic, but inwardly sad, lonely and pessimistic. Not bitter, just depressed. I mean, she banished her sister to the moon when could've prevented the whole NMM incident if she'd been there for her. Just a decade before, she clashed with her elder sister, who after a violent confrontation was exiled to another continent. She's seen everypony grow old and die except her. She raised the sun and protected her subjects from the grim realities of the world outside Equestria for over a millennium. Just as she is emotionally isolated, Equestria is highly insular. She puts on a happy face for the sake of others, and helps those around her, trying to redeem herself; Equestria preaches peace and freedom, and provides foreign aid, but does little beyond that, fearful of creating new conflict. A thousand years of emotional pain.

She finds a kindred spirit. Someone who's been a leader since a young age, also in the face of loss and hardship. Someone with the weight of the free world frequently on his shoulders. His failures are fewer due to the smaller scope of his leadership, but every one of them is much more personal. The dead he led weren't simply people with a shorter lifespan, they had even more life ahead of them than he did. And despite the camaraderie, he knows that the mission will always come before his friends. So he tries not to allow himself to become too attached to them, his emotional isolation a defense mechanism against the inevitable deaths of his allies. But all the same, they're like family to him, making it all the more painful each time he lost a man or woman.

On a related note, this story also has a subplot involving the initial romance between Shining Armor and Princess Cadance. I might cut that part, but I'd rather not. Again, tell me if you can give any help on that front.

Anyway, with 12,805 words written/typed for that story so far, I'm returning to work on my Crysis fic for now.

I saw the Equestria Girls Trailer, and found info on the new Heavy Gear game.

Here's my reaction to both of them.

Essentially, an M. Bison "YES! YES!" immediately followed by a "FFFFFUUUUUUUUU-". The EqGirls speaks for itself, but my problem with the Heavy Gear game is a little less obvious.

Be immersed in the unforgiving world of the Heavy Gear Assault. You are a pilot on the distant planet of Terra Nova, playing in the high stakes game of competitive Gear Dueling. At its core, Heavy Gear Assault is a fast paced first person simulator where the pilot is actually a character in the game. You have fine grained control over every aspect of customization in the game through our comprehensive Gear Bay facility. Heavy Gear Assault targets next-generation PC hardware for initial release.

I don't do much PC gaming, mainly because I don't have a good computer, or the funds to build one. And I'm not sinking money I don't have into a PC for a game that's only reached 13% of its funding goal of $900,000. Now, the "initial release" thing gives me hope that a console version might exist at some point, but I don't expect that to happen.

Now I'll leave you with some of the video game best music ever. Of all time.