Story ideas · 3:33pm May 17th, 2013
I had a concept that's been floating in my head for a few days, and I really want to see some stories about it.
What if Princess Celestia was mentally challanged?
I don't mean for comic effect. I was thinking of a serious, heartwarming story or two. The problem I have with these stories is that I don't have what it takes to make them good. They require "feels", and I'm about as emotionally expressive as one of Celestia's on-duty Royal Guards. If someone reading this decides to take one of these ideas, could you send me the finished version for approval before publishing? I'd like to make sure it's good, and maybe do some proofreading. I have two ideas:
1) Celestia recieves severe brain damage through a tragic accident. The story show how her friends, and eventually the entire country, support her in adjusting to her new challanges.
2) It turns out Celestia secretly had mental retardation all along. After all those centuries, she managed to learn to hide it, and the staff who helped her were sworn to secrecy and weren't informed of the full extent of her difficulties-- they only knew what they needed to know to work around it.
The story starts when one of the main 6 read one of Celestia's letters instead of Twilight (I figure Dash snatched it before Twilight could), and was shocked by the poor spelling and crude writing. The rest of the story is mostly flashback.
Filly Twilight, recently taken in as Celestia's student, picks up on several oddities, until Celestia takes her aside and confesses, comparing herself to another mentally challenged pony Twilight had met once. Twilight, not to be discouraged, decided to help Celestia. While the princess taught her magic, Twilight taught her to read, write, and do basic math. When teaching her to read, Twilight used a particular foal's book, and stuck with that book throughout the story. It's used to show the reader how Celestia progresses. It was slow going, especially when Twilight had her own lessons in those areas, which were, of course, more advanced than Celestia's. No tutor had ever succeeded in getting Celestia to understand. Apparently, it just needed patience and a child's touch.
At the end of the story, we see Celestia entering her room with Luna, who had returned from the moon and been cleansed of Nightmare Moon only hours earlier. Sitting on the bed, Luna assures Celestia that she made the right choice, and that she had done well in her absence. Celestia then levitated over the aforementioned foal's book, and read the passage out loud; this time, she did it without hesitation or difficulty. Luna immediately embraced her sister and told her how proud she was in a crowning "d'awww" moment.
Have you played Fire Emblem: Awakening?
1087245 No, I have not. I'm assuming something about this blog post reminded you of it, though.
1087253 Yes. Read this article about Emmeryn. Or just read this (though, it won't make sense until you read said article):
1087588 That's not the kind of brain damage I was talking about. I'm talking slurred speech and impaired faculties, not memory loss.
1088437 She could barely speak without help and what do you mean by faculties?
1089338 When one loses their mental faculties, it means their intelligence and ability to analyze things go down the drain. Speech and memory impairment or loss are indeed symptoms of head trauma, but there is a difference between trauma and permanent damage.
1089387 Well Emmeryn never recovered. it wasn't trauma. she was broken beyond repair by the time they found her.
1090622 At least she was still functional after healing. WIth the kind of damage I'm talking about, Celestia will have trouble even getting her regalia on.
1090712 Then it sounds like she'll be bed stricken for the rest of her life. How could you write a story about "how her friends, and eventually the entire country, support her in adjusting to her new challenges" if she cant even speak?
1090716
I said it would be hard, not impossible. Look, I don't know how to describe it to you because I don't know much about what brain damage victims go through during recovery, which is another reason I need someone else to write it.
If you don't understand what I'm asking for and you don't have anything helpful to say, then why are you still here? (Don't answer that. It's rhetorical.) At this point, if we try to continue this discussion, I can tell we'll just end up in a flame war, and that's something nobody wants.
1090729 I was just trying to understand what you were saying earlier. if you wrote it, I would totally read though.
Dear Jphyper,
First things first, thank you art!
img703.imageshack.us/img703/1571/20130520194509.png
Not my greatest work, but I hope you like. (And just in case you couldn't tell, it's Celestia and a Mew. ^^;)
Second, I would like to take on this task, though first I would want your blessings. I do have friends with mental disabilities, though not the one you are describing, though I will try my best.
Personally, I enjoy (in a serious way, not a 'LOL, she totally deserved that!' way) the idea of a tragic accident prior to the Elements of Harmony, but I think I love the idea of a weakened Celestia from the start even more.
"...And I saw her on her balcony, watching the stars. As if she was waiting for something. Or even someone. She seemed distraught about something, so I plopped myself down next to her.
'Your Highness?', I asked with delicacy, 'Why do look out with such sorrow?'
She simply replied 'I miss.', and grabbed ahold of me. I can feel the tears running down my back.
At that moment, I realize that her mind wasn't the only thing broken. Her heart took a hard blow to whatever was truly up there in the starry night..."
If she really did have a mental disability from the start, it would explain as to why she never seems to be there when Ponyville is in danger, unless it involves Twilight Sparkle directly.
Cheers~
Kodokuna Haisha
1094517 Sounds good. I can already see your little experiment was not indicative of your actual writing skill. That's encouraging.
And I like the picture. Best Pony meets Best Poké. Awesome.
1094572
Dear Jphyper,
Sweet, I shall not disappoint! And I'm glad you loved the drawing.
Cheers~
Kodokuna Haisha
1094517 Just to be clear- you are doing idea #2, not idea #1, right? Just want to make sure.
1095348
Dear Jyhyper,
Yes. So far I'm at about 600 words.
Cheers~