Sun and Hearth Announcement and Premire After-Update Post · 8:53pm Feb 14th, 2017
I have started publishing a new fic! If you’re reading this you’re probably following me (or tracking the fic,) so you can find it in your feed. Or if you’re not feeling the whole “scrolling” thing right now, here’s a link and description:
A powerful love story from Equestria’s history has been forgotten to time, yet it continues to this day.
Princess Celestia and Smart Cookie have watched Equestria rise. They’ve guarded it, and each other, against the most vile threats and darkest nights. They share a dream that’s entwined their hearts for two thousand years, and a love that’s given them the strength to see it realized.
Now they face the ultimate test of that love; one that comes not from monsters or armies, but from the opposed wills of two ponies who want only what’s best for one another, their friends, and Equestria, and who can’t back down when any of those things are at stake.
Expect updates every Tuesday.
In addition to the tagged characters, “featuring” credits include (in order of appearance:) The founders of Equestria, Luna, Twilight Sparkle, Cadance, and Discord.
Now, I mentioned this before, but to encourage people to check it out and keep up with it and stuff, I plan on posting an after-update blog each week, which will contain:
“Ending credits” music somehow related to the just posted chapter!
Random trivia!
World building stuff!
Answers to questions, and questions to answer!
Maybe the occasional mini-scene or cut material!
And if there's something else you'd like to see, let me know!
Each week there will be spoilers for the chapter that went up, so read that first. There also might be hints for upcoming chapters (no plot points, more like “we’ll be seeing more about this sometime in the future.”)
Most weeks this will be a separate post under a cut, but to avoid spamming people I’ll just give some spoiler space and add it in here.
Welcome to the first weekly After-Update blog post for Sun and Hearth! Spoilers for the current chapters below, so read those first.
Ending Credits:
1 - Power and Strength (Light and Day - Polyphonic Spree)
2 - A Bitter Taste (Things Have Changed - Bob Dylan)
3 - The Best Kind of Friend (These Are the Days - 10,000 Maniacs)
Random trivia!
In my mind, Smart Cookie’s voice actor is Kenneth Branagh.
My “Founding of Equestria” era is roughly equivalent to the real world time period “Between 11am and 2pm at the Renaissance Festival.” It’s extremely accurate and painstakingly researched.
I am totally in love with the founder’s characters, and there will be more fics about them (along with more in this fic, obviously.) At one point I threatened to quit this fic and just write “Olde Time The West Wing, but with ponies.”
Cookie’s mild obsession with democracy and dislike of monarchy is one of the inspirations that led to this fic in a round-about way. Specifically, I’ve always felt that the earth ponies must have been a democracy, and I somehow started associating Smart Cookie with some of the more witty founding fathers of America-- Thomas Paine, Ben Franklin, and a bit of John Adams thrown in. Having read a handful of biographies about that bunch (and Ben Franklin’s autobiography) I considered writing a fictional biography of him, casting him as a bit of a firebrand in early Equestria. In working on that, I had to consider how Celestia might react to him, and CelestiaCookie was born.
For the rest of the founders, I tried to make them the sort of character that would get polished down, sanitized, and become the kind of archetype that the mane six were cast to play (while bringing their own styles to the role.)
Yes, I’m going with the “mud pony” slur. The proper slurs for pegasi and unicorns are “featherbrain” (which Puddinghead almost drops in chapter one) and “stick head.”
I did not go with Luna’s old english because I had a ton of flashbacks to write, and I sure as hell wasn’t trying to write Celestia AND Luna AND six (basically) OCs with unique voices that way.
Characters in this fic drink a lot of tea. Obviously this is because I got the same product placement deal as GhostofHeraclitus.
One of my prereaders asked why Cookie wasn’t bothered by more ponies when walking with Clover. I tried to work this in, but couldn’t make it fit, but the reason is that Clover and Cookie are both royal advisors, and assumed to be discussing Important Royal Business, not Cookie’s love life (and whether that should be Important Royal Business.)
World Building Stuff!
One bit of background info that’s totally unnecessary but gets referred to repeatedly through the fic is the nations of the tribes pre-Equestria:
Girthshire: Home to the earth ponies, Girthshire was a sprawling city of traders and craftsponies, and the major port. Food from the farms in the surrounding country side, along with stone from quarries (aka rock farms) and timber from the forests all came through it. Some of the food was sent to Monoceros and Hippocampus as “fees,” in exchange for the maintenance of the weather and the sun and moon, but the rest of the goods went to craftsponies in the city known for sturdy, quality work, or was exported around the world in exchange for more exotic goods and materials. Girthshire was a democracy, though powerful guilds were practically their own branch of government (so, a democracy.)
Hippocampus: The pegasi had the largest standing military the pony world has ever seen, before or since, in part because it included the entire tribe. The strict adherence to honor, rank, and military efficiency permeated every aspect of pegasus culture, with the sprawling cloud city of Hippocampus organized into neat sectors, and troops of pegasi deployed for both weather management and war. Soldiers stood at the top of the hierarchy as the tribe fought a seemingly endless series of conflicts with the griffons, the minotaurs, and more or less any beings that looked at them funny. Just below the soldiers was the weather corps, run with the same military precision, leading the unicorns and earth ponies to make messing around with the Turn of the Seasons into a semi-annual tradition.
Monoceros: The Jewel of the Tribes, unicorns called it, though the other tribes had somewhat less flattering names. Monoceros was rich in gems and the center of magical study, the arts, and fine craftwork in the world. It was ruled by a royal house, with a sprawling web of nobility under it that made a pastime of infighting and social combat. The sun and moon were raised by a selection of about one hundred ponies drawn from that nobility, one of the honors bestowed by the Princess.
Questions to answer:
How dreamy is Kenneth Branagh? Like, on a scale of one to Kenneth Branagh?
What is the true meaning of the Summer Sun Celebration?
Seriously, were the founders out of their blessed minds? I mean, it’s one thing to be like “We’ve got this new kingdom and here are some leaders who will keep us from ripping it apart while we get used to not hating each other,” and another thing to be like “Oh yeah, let’s make it a monarchy, and they’re immortal, so they’ll be in charge forever!” The Nightmare Moon thing was really a best case scenario.
It would really suck to have to weed crabgrass with your mouth. Discuss.
Well, obviously
This is by far the best valentines day present I could get!
hell yes
Now you and AugieDog need to start working on the smash-hit Bridleway musical, Cookie.
"Stick head" -- maybe "screwhead," too?
In addition to "mudpony," there's the old Air Force term that pilots applied to non-flying officers: "ground pounder." Perhaps the former is a slur used by unicorns, and the latter by pegasi.
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There's a reason for "stick head" which is probably not worth teasing for as many chapters as it will take to get to the explanation, but it is coming.
It's fun so far! I like politics in my ponies. Well, for the literal definition of politics, rather than using it as an allusion to the politics of any particular state...
(Admittedly though one more quick run-through for copy edits wouldn't hurt. Nothing major, but I noticed a couple errors per chapter in spelling or grammar.)
Cookie's voice is very strong, as are all the Founders' voices. I especially loved the line:
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Yeah, copy editing is rough on a fic like this, because there's just so much of it. I'm awful at it myself, but I don't really have anyone willing to pull out the fine tooth comb for me right now.
Not to you specifically, but if anyone is interested in giving it a go, let me know here or drop me a PM.
Yay, it's out!
Sounds like a question for Troy McClure
And crabgrass? There's people on this earth that like kale… I can buy that some ponies don't mind crabgrass
Emphasis on the pain, I'm sure. I admit I don't know what 'between 11am and 2' means, I'll have to look that up.
Really? How come?
That haircut does him no favors
Like the true meaning of Christmas. Santa is fake and your parents lied to you your whole life. Merry Christmas!
Edit: you might say that aligns better with Heath's Warming, but that's exactly what they want you to think.
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"Chancellor" is usually either an elected or appointed position. If it's the title of the leader of the tribe... there's no one to appoint it.
You could argue the same about "commander," that it's typically appointed, but in that case it makes a little more sense that one pony arose as a war leader, was titled "commander," and then appointed the next commander from his best soldiers, or the best soldiers followed the next best war leader and he was commander.
It would be strange to me for the chancellor to appoint the next chancellor. The only situation I could see the chancellor being by appointment would be some kind of government-by-guild system like the Dutch had, which certainly is possible, but guild leadership itself tends to be democratic, just without universal suffrage.
Then on top of that, Ponyville is an earth pony town and has a mayor rather than any sort of feudal lord or lady.
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Chancellor. Ha! I never made that connection. As I think about it, democracy does feel a natural fit for earth ponies, as royalty (along with fine art, splendor, erudition, and elitism) does for unicorns and the military (along with daring, efficiency, boldness and energy) does for pegasi. Democracy asserts an equality of voice that seems to me to fit in with earth pony values--as well as their pride. I can't see your average earth pony appreciating anyone asserting themselves over them, in power or individual worth. The same for pegasi. Unicorns seem to have no problem doing that, particularly amongst themselves.
Free food, yo.
This was well cast.
Might one of them have Luna? From what I've seen, you write a very interesting and well done Luna. She reminds me of NorrisThePony's Luna in Dusk Falls.