A change of pace! · 3:43am Mar 3rd, 2020
So the other night (after a few beers), I was mulling over the absolute mess of an 'original fiction' draft I've been working on, and I realized that I ... might need to rewrite a particular character, if not cut them out entirely, as the story just kept grinding to a halt whenever I tried to write them. Dang.
And then, perhaps to console myself, I started kicking around various ideas, fic-related or no. At which point the term "En Garde" came to mind, because swords are neat. And, y'know, since Rarity is the fanciest of the bunch, she obviously knows French, so a story titled En Garde would have to be about her. For a brief bit I thought about making the story about Canterlot High's fencing team ... at which point I realized I'd have to look up the rules of modern fencing, which most assuredly don't allow for swinging on chandeliers, and where's the fun in that?
And then I realized "Rarity d'Aubigny" has the same amount of syllables as "Julie d'Aubigny," and then things just kinda started to fall into place. Finally got around to booting up the word processor, and now we have En Garde! It's ... kind of weird, honestly, as I kind of pride myself on fanfics that 'fit' into the established continuity, where this is more just "y'know what would be awesome? Rarity getting into swordfights." I can only hope that I'm keeping the characters semi-recognizable ... but then again, this website's full of weirdo Sonic/Kingdom Hearts crossovers that only randomly have some OC ponies in it, so swordy Rarity isn't that far of a stretch in comparison.
The funny thing is, as I write away at this new project, I realize how much it's not in the direct style of Alexandre Dumas, because I'm not nearly that good of a writer. At which point I can't help but point you all in the direction of Steven Brust's Khaavren Romances, beginning with The Phoenix Guards, which are big sprawling magic epic fantasy novels in the mode of Dumas and they are absolutely delicious reads. So, y'know, if you get tired of waiting for me to update, go ahead and track down a copy sometime.
But yeah. Back to the word processor with me. This should be fun.
Eh? Rarity is three syllables :P
Oh man, this is going to be awesome! I am the last person on Earth you'd have to convince that Rarity would be an utter natural with a blade. I'm sure she would put on the most fabulous displays of cavalier foppish fashion as well.
I lurves Steven Brust's stuff, and The Phoenix Guards and sequels are worthy disciples of Dumas! If I remember correctly there's a bit where they're deciding who gets the honor of charging the enemy and get into a huge row trying to offer the glory to each other!
Have you heard of the Captain Alatriste books by Arturo Perez-Reverte? Wonderful Dumasian swashbuckling with a Spanish flair!
Speaking as someone who slogged through The Count of Monte Christo in high school, thank goodness. I have enough sextuple-digit fics to worry about. Still, looking forward to this one. Good luck with the original work!
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Of course! I’m a big fan of Reverte, but the books get pretty grim as the series go on.
Also watched the movie a bit ago. According to Aragon, Virgo Mortensen’s Argentine accent is like having a Texas cowboy drawl show up in a Jane Austen piece.
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A fair point. Still kinda rhymes! Ish.
In Monochromatic's:
AU series about Princess Rarity and her bodyguard Twilight Sparkle, there's one called "The Art of the Blade" that's my favorite because it's an AU of the main AU where Twilight's the princess and Rarity is her bodyguard. As you say, Rarity is just a natural swashbuckler.
- MLP: FiM
- Romance
- Adventure
It's one thing to have a bodyguard as beautiful as she is deadly. It's another thing entirely to be hopelessly in love with her.Mike
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Haven't seen it, but now I really want to!