Yet more opportunities for Skywriter in dead-tree form! · 1:55am Apr 24th, 2019
As we work our way through the ninth and final season of Friendship is Magic, it seems only natural that we, as fans, begin to look for capstone projects showcasing the best of our writing labors over the years. The folks at The Ministry of Image have assembled one such anthology--actually, a pair of volumes, focusing on the ever-popular topic of the Two Royal Sisters. You are reading this on my blog because my inexplicably-popular "Princess Celestia Hates Tea" was selected for the Celestia volume, and it finds itself in far more illustrious company. Check out the lineups for each volume here:
Tales of the Sun has "Administrative" friggin' "Angel" in it, and you can tell from this that they have good taste. You also can tell from this that they must enjoy making me cry super hard, like, to not-pretty levels.
Well, it is a classic...
Wait, the Moon anthology has a Ponydora Prancypants story entitled “For the Weak”? Where did that come from?!
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Wow, I just went over his user page for any sign of it. Haven't been there in a while! I can't find anything on called "For The Weak" by searching for it, so it's not a case of crediting the wrong offer. Maybe it's a book exclusive?
Man, if I were the one putting together a book with that story in it, I would hella have to steal that quote for a foreword or something.
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PONYDORA IS IN IT?? 8U is... is he back?? please please please!!
also why is it surprising that Princess Celestia Hates Tea is so popular? it's fantastic and hilarious and i reread it from time to time just to re-enjoy its absurdity all over again, hahaha.
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It's just that somehow a silly idea whose entire writing process from inspiration to finished product was less than 48 hours managed to surpass in public esteem works that I spent literally years on. I know I'm far from the only artist to have this experience, though.
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Are you familiar with the classic engineering joke about the master engineer called in to solve a malfunctioning piece of equipment?
The guy walks in, thinks for a moment, makes a single chalk mark right over where the faulty part is, and bills the company $50,000. Turns out he's right and the problem is quickly fixed. The company fires back a challenge to his bill — it only took him thirty seconds to solve! — and tells him they won't pay him without an itemized breakdown of charges. He sends back the note: "Chalk mark: $1. Knowing where to put it: $49,999."
Princess Celestia Hates Tea is your chalk mark.
The skill which allowed you to execute it to perfection as a casual little drabble is what makes it exemplary.
Cadance of Cloudsdale and Contraptionology! are your pony magnum opi, but Tea is short, exceptionally memorable, and more than pulls its weight.
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Oops, there has been a mistake. Big thanks for pointing it out! We indeed have got one of Ponydora's stories in the anthology, but it is his Que Sera, Sera which he kindly let us print. We are greatly sorry about that, the list of stories is now fixed.
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Ah, okay... that’s a beautiful story, and I’m glad you were able to get in contact with him to have it included!
Absolutely gorgeous covers for both volumes, by the way.
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I’ve never heard it phrased as an engineering joke before... But then I’m an artist, so I’ve heard the artist version involving Picasso many times before. Turns out it dates back to Whistler in 1878, at least.
5049048 Oof, rats. But if you got permission, he's still floating around somewhere living his life, so that's good enough for me. *stuffs rarijack feels back into box under bed - quiet, you!*
5048898 And I gotta say, I concur with horizon - I can't say much about the fickle public, but I know I personally have always thoroughly enjoyed every scrap of fiction of yours I've come across. Perhaps PCHT hits a particular sweet spot of length for most people - I know I'm also one of very few people who regularly re-reads the entirety of The Wheel of Time for fun, so I enjoy really long works and multiple stories centered in a particular AU or verse or fanon, but most people prefer something shorter, I guess. Enough of an investment to truly enjoy themselves without so much of one as to take up a lot of time? I don't know. Either way, PCHT is an excellent chalk mark among your many excellent fics, and I will continue to enjoy every last one of them.
Congrats on being included - you deserve it!
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Aw, thanks, folks.