Story Ideas #5: Refugee · 4:21am May 15th, 2020
I despise the idea of Tyrant Celestia.
I mean, I understand where it comes from: Celestia has absolute power, absolute power corrupts absolutely, therefore, she has to secretly be a tyrant. You need look no further than MLP Generation 1 to see examples of impossible-to-believe benevolent rulers, such as Queen Majesty. It is easy to believe that Queen Majesty is either secretly a tyrant, or so criminally incompetent that she needs to be overthrown as soon as possible. It’s also my headcanon that the queen of the kirin is a parody of exactly this kind of incompetently-benevolent ruler. But I think that Celestia believably pulls off being a benevolent absolute ruler, and I love her for this.
Besides, the Tyrant Celestia stories, at least the ones with no sense of humor, are clearly there for the author to work through their authority and anger management issues. The latter is proved most obviously by the ending, where Celestia is not reformed, but rather stabbed through the heart with a suspiciously phallic alicorn.
Now, with that mini-rant out of the way, let me mention the one interesting part of at least some Tyrant Celestia stories: the character of Twilight Sparkle. That character is put through the wringer, being made to both worship and cower in terror from this evil genius who spends a considerable part of her day trying to devise new ways to psychologically torture her “favorite student”.
So here’s my idea: One day, this particular version of Twilight suddenly appears on Earth, in a very public place. Like say the set of a news broadcast. The story would center on her relations with humanity: not only the expected would-be exploiters, but also those that reach out to help her and reassure her. In other words, a story about Twilight learning the Power of Friendship…from humanity.
Because if there’s a story idea I despise even more than “Tyrant Celestia”, it’s “All Humans Are Monsters”.
By the way, there is absolutely zero chance that I will write this one, the reason being that the only story I can work out with this idea involves an impossibly-evil Celestia that ends up being stabbed through the heart by Alicorn Twilight.
If I've learned anything from my obsession with American history, it's that power doesn't corrupt, power reveals. Someone gets the power to enact their wishes and you see what those wishes were.
... Huh. That works. I'm sure there have been times when Celestia's wanted to say "Everyone just shut up for a few years." Such are the perils of megalocracy; just because someone's the biggest doesn't mean they know what they're doing.
The concept is certainly interesting, deconstructing two birds with one hug. But I can see why combining two story tropes you hate doesn't result something you actually want to write.