Normally, I don’t geek out over fics. Good or bad, they’re a nice, light read to pass the time.

A fic named The Sun Also Surprises by this guy showed up on my feed one day: a romance-tagged story with Celestia and an OC listed as the main characters. Sure, whatever, let’s read: Blah, blah, blah… Celestia goes to Cadence to help her get some, but is really shy and second guessing about it. And Cadence encourages her, giving the usual “Love Conquers All” jazz, and

“Auntie, I hate to be the one who says this, but it is better to have loved and lost—”

“Cadance… you have loved but never lost. Do not lecture me.” Celestia’s eyes narrowed and for a moment, anger burned in her eyes like two live coals. “You have no idea what loss is like, but one day, you will. Come to me then and share your cheerful, optimistic platitudes.”

Oh.

Um… Dayum. Props for the brutal dialogue. So this is a hard-hitting angst fic? Let’s read on.

“Not only can I burp the entire Equestrian alphabet, but I can also belt out the entirety of the dragon alphabet.” Celestia’s eyes twinkled with merriment as she spoke and she delighted in seeing the shocked expressions upon both Cadance’s and Shining Armor’s face.

Let me skip to the end and tell you why this story is bitchin’ awesome: They feel so incredibly human. Celestia isn’t an angsty immortal, or a shy amateur to the game of love, or a quirky mischief-maker, she is all of these. She has fears and hopes, nervous breakdowns and laughing breakdowns, wants and urges and sweaty wingpits. She’s such a confused jumble of contrary feelings that I can only sum up her characterization with the word, “Human.” She’s so human I swear she lives two doors down from me.

The OC? I don’t want to spoil much, but he’s so well designed I think an engineer was involved. He’s heroic enough to be admirable, and flawed enough to be likeable. Like the subject of his affection, he can be a gross, nervous wuss, and he can be romantic as something super romantic (gimee a break, I’m writing this in one go). The two of them are adorable together, bodily functions and all.

Why do I mention the gross bits? Because it makes them feel real. Most shipfics end up the literary equivalent of shoving two dolls together and making kissing noises. And Celestia stories aren’t uncommon, but they also tend to hit one note only. Angsty immortal. Perfect ‘n wise. Cutesy-wootsy. This fic takes those notes and plays a concert, taking us screaming across the emotional spectrum. Highs peak and lows break within the mere space of hours, playing off each other to make the whole thing feel like the actual emotional roller coaster that is love. This isn’t a “shipfic,” this isn’t even an “OC pairing,” this is a fuckmothering Romance.

And it has a sequel! That has a Blueblood portrayal where he isn’t the dumb, rich bigot that authors have been phoning in since season one. And we meet the OC’s mother! Who is an adorable Pony-Jewish Mom… yes, “Pony-Jewish,” did I mention there is some amazing world building in here? The only way this fic could get cooler is if it had tits and awful singing, AND IT HAD SINGING!

I’ve never said this before, but I’m saying it now: This fic (I’m counting them both as one) is amazing. You might like it.

I'd like to mention this story is part of the Weedverse, So if you enjoy this one, you will probably want to give the others a look see!

5206937

...Of course it's part of some convoluted multi-story thing.

Wouldn't be him if it wasn't.

~Skeeter The Lurker

5207110

Actually, it works just fine as a stand alone story, so could you please be a decent human being and leave your dull preconceived notions behind and not make ignorant assumptions about me? Or is that too much to ask?

Stay classy!

5207125

All in jest, dude.

You gotta admit, you do tend to have a habit of connecting stories.

~Skeeter The Lurker

5207125
You know, I'm an stranger to whatever long and sordid history of drama prompted this exchange, but as a stranger I'd just like to comment: coming into a thread where someone spent hundreds of words writing unsolicited glowing praise for your story, and ignoring that completely in order to rip into someone else for a side comment, isn't exactly the definition of "classy."

It's really not my place to care. (And I don't. So please don't explain it, or bring it up here.) But as a potential reader who was looking pretty favorably at the recommended story based on 5206871's assessment, I'm kinda rethinking that right now.

5209327

I find myself in agreement with you.

Good thing I responded about this review in another location.

5209337
Fair enough, but as I said, I'm a stranger to this: this thread is all I get.

Anyway, be well.