Since Celestias Paladin is also doing it, I guess I should do it too...

So, I have been working on a Celestia fic for a month or so and I want to gauge interest. As you have guessed from the thread title: yes, it's a vampony Celestia fic. I'm pretty sure most of us here are no stranger to vampony fics, most of them involving Twilight Sparkle becoming a vampony (and also become an alicorn) or Princess Luna (being, you know, the Princess of the Night) or being a poor expy of My Roommate is a Vampire.

So, a while ago I was idly thinking about all the vampony stories and I realized: there seems to be no vampony Celestia anywhere on fimfiction (I'm probably very mistaken here, since I don't actually read enough vampony fics. A short check on fimfiction a while ago only turned up vampony hunter Celestia) and wrote out this story idea (which is posted on my profile page):

Title: A Day in Life of a Vampony Monarch
Tag(s): Dark, Slice of Life
Blurb: Being a vampony was hard enough - weakness to sunlight and aversion to garlic were hardship of daily life. But when you were the ruler of the whole of Equestria, things becomes extraordinarily hard - being the pony to raise the thing that harms you the most each day, having to hide your cravings from your dearest sister and to fight with yourself mentally every day to prevent your descent into madness.

A character study of Celestia being a vampony.

I liked it because it provided a huge conflict between the nature of a vampire and the nature of Princess Celestia and her duty to raise the sun every morning. However, like many of the ideas I have, it's just an idea and I had no material to work on it. I had bit and pieces of background information and a vague outline, that's all. I was content to let it languish in my head... until my very own older sister expressed interest in it. My sister had been a rather big vampire fan (no, not of Twilight. No offense to any Twilight fans) in the past and wanted me to write it.

But it wasn't until a while later when I hit upon the idea of letting Celestia go through a day as a century old vampony and explore her reaction. Basically, it's the day of the 100th year since she had turned and the day gets progressively worse for her internally while she struggles with a rising split personality and to maintain her façade of a normal day, which is crumbling (no, Celestia doesn't get bloodsucking crazy at the end).

One thing to note is that Celestia had never fed, she literally hung on to this normalcy through her sheer force of will (with some help from her alicorn powers, of course). This is also the reason for the split personality, it is the vampiric urges she suppressed for the longest time and it has been harassing her over the century, eventually taking the form of a younger version of Celestia.

This is on top of Luna being suspicious that something is off with her sister (like how her sister blocked any attempts to enter her dreams, which isn't exactly pretty, at least by Equestria's standard), which I am exploring with the sequel.

Of course, I've already noticed a couple of problem. Exposure to sunlight causes immense pain and given the numerous functions and events she has to visit, imagine how hard is it for Celestia to still talk normally and hold a smile.

Also, Fridge Horror: this universe's Nightmare Moon locked Celestia in the sun when she escaped. ... Oops.

So, what do you guys think? Would it be an interesting enough story to tell?

The only vampony story I read was about a bat pony.

Still, Celestia as a romanticized vampire?

Why not do it like the anime/manga/novel series Chibi Vampire? It has Karin, a reverse vampire who goes out in both the day and night, gives blood rather than drinks it and is able to suck away the unhappiness a person has.

I'm not saying your idea is bad by any means, but I would find it hard to explain how Celestia stayed alive without feeding for a full century without a flimsy reason. Also, the idea the Sun Princess couldn't be in direct sunlight also leaves open the hole of her raising the sun without hurting herself. Plus, garlic intolerance?

However, I'm just another brony. The premises is interesting regardless.

884612
Karin would be interesting to implement but it's not exactly the conflict I am aiming to have in the story. I'd say Fluttershy would fit the character more as well.

I think my idea was that vampires don't "starve" to death but the urge to feed to increase as time goes by and Celestia suppresses it greatly over the century. But things are starting to break down by the time of the story. Maybe a century is too long but I wanted to show the amount of willpower Celestia possesses. Looks like it makes big plothole instead.

884658
I wouldn't say Celestia not feeding creates a plot hole she's shown incredible strength of will in the past right into the present, plus maybe she could survive in the sun but with difficulty/pain due to being an Alicorn, or just insanely powerful, but it does weaken her to do so because a large portion of her magic is required to protect herself. (which could explain some of her unwillingness/difficulty with acting directly in recent events; beyond being a super genius chess master) I do find it hard to believe that anything could turn Celestia (but I read her as a physical/greater god so that might just be my head canon talking)

Well... I despise vampony fics, and the same with most bat pony ones as well. But at the same time... I'll admit im a bit of a hipocrit because in the Demo of a story idea i posted a few days ago, it involved a segment of my story where a gullible character thinks the Lunar guards are vamponies (he doesent know that the armor just changes their features when they don it.)

And an idea ive kicked around for a while involved a take on the Equestrian civil war, how Luna developed a biological weapon that would have won the war that turns ponies into vamponies. But she was banished before hand and Celestia offered amnesty to all surrendering troops, so it sat in a secret storage area for 1000 years. Luna acted like 1000 years in seclusion cured her even though she was schemeing to strike again, finds the silo inadvertantly and takes the opportunity to strike, changing most of Canterlot and tying Celestia's hands because she wont raise the sun because she would kill the civilians (and herself) who have been turned against their will.

Since im on it, the main character of that story is a 19 year old earth pony stallion who is studying med to be a nurse, being that his blood can cure infections.....and he's surrounded by vamponies....... yeah... he's fucked,

I like the idea, haven't seen anything like that. I believe I have read a Celestia vampony Fic somewhere though.

About the plot holes, do you really have to make NMM put her in the sun? Know that Celestia being trapped in the sun is speculation, and is never clear in the show. I remember reading some stories that put her someplace else without a problem.

About the part when she hasn't fed, you are in a magical world, use that. Maybe Celestia has secretly been magically trying to create a substitute for blood all this time, it has never fully worked, but it has helped. There are vampire stories in which a fed vampire can walk in the sun without harm, so maybe depending on the concoction she had drunk, each time is different, and sometimes is terrible and others not that bad, but maybe always weakening?

Anyway, I would like to read this story, so hope you solve your plot problems and it get it posted.

I guess should add my two cents. Honestly I've never read the vampony fics since I found them stupid and over done (they seem to be one of the "In" things for fics). I also prefer my vampires to be relegated to Twisting the Hellmouth and the world of Buffy fanfics. But the idea of Celestia being one? Never seen it before.

My main concern is how she became a vampony

884911
Hah! I like that idea!

She could go without feeding as a normal vampire should for a full century if she can use/make substitutes for blood. That's a great idea to fill that part.

I'm tempted to compare this with Paarthurnax using sheer force of will and meditation to overpower his natural dragon instincts that tell him to conquer.
But this isn't Skyrim, so maybe I should just shut up now.
...
Anyway, there's only a few vampony stories I've actually looked through, and the ones I remember the most are Rarity and Cheerilee.
So, Celestia as a vampire... kind of a sick irony to it. I mean it could work. It just needs proper execution. Every author has a different method of going about execution. So to encourage or discourage certain methods would only confuse you.
...
Yeah, I'll just stop talking now.

884600

The underlying horror of a vampire is based on their need to feed upon mortals. That's how it's been since the original vampire legends were told. Vampires started out as bloated corpses that rose from the dead and stole life from the living.

Over the years, they progressed into creatures of dangerous beauty. Dracula is perhaps the best example. In recent times, Vampire the Masquerade and other media has turned the bloodsucker into a sort of tormented anti-hero. They are creatures doomed by their curse to feed on the living, and rightfully hated by us mortals for it. Some try to fight their hunger, but all it takes is one slip.

We'll ignore the substandard "vampires" discussed by some modern "literature". They are not relevant to the conversation, and also fall outside classical definitions.

I understand what you're trying to go for here, the conflict between Celestia's duty to her ponies and the curse that afflicts her. However, I think this sounds like a peanut-butter on pickles combination. Celestia's character in the show is absolutely devoted to her ponies, and we also know that unicorns managed to raise the sun before Discord took control of the world. The biggest plothole here is why Celestia doesn't pronounce herself unfit for duty and step down.

In the show, she is the ideal ruler. She earned her throne by reforging Equestria from Discord's dominion into a land of harmony. She and Luna fought Sombra, and any number of other threats, to protect their little ponies. Most of all, she accepts that she is far from perfect and tries to vest as much power as possible in the individual cities. Celestia is caretaker of the Sun by the will of Fate, and caretaker of Ponykind because of their love for her. She is the Head Alicorn In Charge not because of her birth or some election, but because she is honestly the best pony for the job. No gimmicks, no lies, no desperately clinging to power for power's sake.

That's all show canon. So, you'd have to come up with a really good explanation for why Celestia didn't step down, train a cabal of unicorns to raise and lower the sun, and vanish. It's the noble thing to do, to exile herself for her ponies. She's smart enough to guide her race from the outside, rescuing a filly with a broken leg here, thwarting a Changeling invasion there. She doesn't need to be a ruler to do that. All a crown or throne would do is surround her with temptation. Celestia's a Princess regardless of the sparkly gubbins. You wouldn't have Celestia the Vampire Monarch, you'd have Celestia the Fallen Angel.

While that would be pretty cool, that's not your original concept. You're trying to burden Celestia with bloodlust, and also give her the burden of raising and lowering the Sun, despite the pain it gives her. Essentially making her even more of a self-sacrificing heroine than she already is. While this is commendable, you're trying to mix two near-polar opposites. The reason Luna is often vampirized in stories is because that makes her a noble terror of the night. If Celestia is a vampire, then her will is so strong that she is able to overcome absolutely everything about her vampiric nature. Thus, the only horror becomes internal, a heroic struggle of Princess against the beast within...

...except that Celestia can get out at any time. All she has to do is train a few unicorns, and vanish into the night. Ponykind will survive. If her will really is that strong, then she is surely smart enough to guide her race from the shadows. That's the key plothole, right there.

I hope this helps! I'm not trying to be snarky or anything, just trying to give you some useful feedback on your idea!

885617
Seeing that you are part of two Vampony groups I'm guessing you're our resident expert on them.

885632

Woah, woah! I claim no expert status of any kind! Somepony, get this noose offa my neck!

That said, the concept of being an "expert" on vampires is kinda flawed. If you mean the classical "horror"-esque vamp, then I know a thing or two about them. There's a million different movie monsters out there who borrow the name, from "Sparklesues" to "Thirty Days of Night". It's impossible to be an expert on everything that hides from the sun under the umbrella of "vampire" these days.

The reason I posted that was because if the author's gonna use vampirism, it needs to be done well. I hope it's helpful, since I didn't spend 45 minutes writing it out just because I like the feeling of keys on my fingers!

885648
Ah I see,,, too many vampire myths to pick from to be an expert on all of them. I get ya.

885617
Dont you DARE diss Peanut butter and pickles! Pickles are the greatest discovery since sliced bread!

besides that you have a few good points.

884911
The seal in the sun thing was kind of an aside, it doesn't really get mentioned until the sequel. I admit that it's basically for kind of an emotional cheapshot later on (and Twilight would totally blast me to hell and back for making her mentor a vampire and doing that cheapshot).

: Darn right I will, Garand.

... Yeah.

885341
I like that idea as well and I can definitely work this into the story.

885335
It's kind of flimsy right now but Celestia got her blood drained on the 900th anniversary of Luna's banishment in a moment of weakness (she later tracked down the vampire and blasted him to flinders but the damage has been done).

... Yeah, even I think it's crap right now. I want to chalk it up to listening to Lullaby for a Princess too much but I just suck at making up good excuses.

885617

We'll ignore the substandard "vampires" discussed by some modern "literature". They are not relevant to the conversation, and also fall outside classical definitions.

No, you weren't being snarky, you actually raised some very good points.

You are right, she could have abdicated at any point of time since she turned but her sense of duty to her subjects makes the idea literally inconceivable (or so, I think. ). A case in point would be the first decade after Luna's banishment as she would have been literally heartbroken and thus unfit to rule (okay, this very much debatable since we have no idea of the times just after Luna's banishment other than a throwaway line).

Celestia (at least, in this universe) has already felt that she had let Luna down and abandoned her in her time of need so her thinking now is that she wouldn't abandon and let down her subjects as well. To put it simply, Celestia is having a big issue with failure.

This is does give a sense that Celestia is emotionally weak (like "Waaah, I'm emo and I can't leave everypony!") and is doing an incredibly stupid thing all because of duty, though. But I believe I was thinking to resolve this in the sequel, with Luna stepping up to help her (along with the minister mentioned below).

This raises another question: why has no one even noticed over the century!? So far in the story only Luna and a minister noticed something strange (the minister was pretty much just looking for confirmation by the time of the story). I should really fix a lot of things.

One thing I'm happy though: the internal struggle is exactly what I'm gunning for (at least for this story) but I have fix all the background issues. Good thing that I'm letting this stew slowly and editing the plot up properly.

885648
I spent over 3 hours. ... I had to do a lot of thinking.

885782
I do want to point out that depending on how you work in the usual weakness in holy objects and symbols the vampony wouldn't even be able to get close to Celestia since you knw she is kind of revered like a goddess.

885812
The pilot does seem to hint it in the pictures, along Twilight's flashback to the Summer Sun celebration and Rarity's unconventional... oath but my fanon has always been that Celestia is at most a Physical Goddess and the ponies treat her as royalty (as evidenced by A Bird in the Hoof).

885937
With that line of thinking I would think that the moment a vampony bites her it would go up like a mosquito hitting a bug zapper

885782

You keep mentioning "sequel". To be brutally blunt, what motivation are you giving readers to read the first story? You need to show that you're skilled enough to provide a good read within the first chapter of the first story. The market is flooded with ponies that go nom on necks. What makes yours worth reading on first blush?

Secondly, I totally get what you mean about Celestia's sense of duty keeping her on the throne. However, on the flip side, I think that same sense of duty would push her to abdicate. She knows how much of a threat she is to her ponies, and she knows that they can survive without her. Furthermore, since she failed Luna, and now seems to have failed herself, wouldn't she seek exile to protect her ponies from her future mistakes? In addition to that, we know Cadence is born and ascends to Alicornhood around 15-30 years before the show starts. Wouldn't Celestia's sense of duty urge her to leave Equestria in Cadence's hooves, with a team of strong unicorns to raise and lower the sun, at the very least? (Yes, the Great and Powerful Trixie would be more than happy to rule the sun! Mua-ha-ha-hahahahahaha!)

The key point I'm trying to make is that Celestia's duty often transcends her own self-interest. She uses Twilight to save her sister, rather than trying to wield the elements again. She lets the Mane 6 overcome Discord, instead of her and Luna trying to relive the glory days. Finally, she sends Cadence and Twilight to save the Crystal Empire, instead of giving Luna a battalion of tanks and letting the Nightbringer work off some stress. Celestia is always trying to find the best solution to a problem, even when it means she has to decrease. I think that would push her off the throne. Maybe not right away, but after ten years? Twenty? They have cake in exile too!

Food for thought!

885812

Celestia isn't just revered, she's humble enough to reject worship. She knows she isn't a goddess. There's no "Cult of the Sun", no "Celestine Youth", and certainly no "Holy Canterlot Inquisition". The most she has is a few celebrations, and some statues that break when Rainbow Dash catches them. She even keeps Hearthswarming Eve, instead of replacing it with a celebration of Discord's defeat. Like I said before, she earned her throne. She's an ideal ruler, the type that only happen in fairy tales. That's why it irks me when people try to portray her as some kind of pervert or Machiavellian headcase, because that destroys the character entirely. As much as I hate to say it, since I do like the Nightbringer, Luna is far closer to that type of ruler. She's the one who decided that if ponies would not love her, they would fear her. Even when she came back, she cancelled Nightmare Night on a whim. And furthermore- *Gets burned alive for talking smack about the Princess of the Sun's baby sister*

If you're going to add in an element of heavenly power, then use the ideal of Harmony. Celestia's pretty much a physical embodiment of it, the same way as she earned her crown. She's committed to securing the rights of her little ponies, and striking down those who would harm them. The fundamental struggle of their universe could be between Order and Chaos. Harmony is an expression of the ideal state, of liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Discord is an anarchistic tyranny, with the stronger oppressing the weaker.

That brings up another question. Who is the Cain of this universe? Where did Vampires originate from? I trace the vampiric curse back to Discord himself in the story I'm writing. Sort of a last-ditch effort before the Princesses defeated him. Luna offered some a place at her side, but after she was banished most of them were purged by an angry populace before Celestia could recover from the battle. The survivors went into hiding, much like the Nightguard. The source of the vampirism actually defines a lot about its effects on the unfortunate victim.

885961

Eyup. Praise the Princess and Pass the Promethium!

Of course, there's also A Canterlot Wedding Pt. 2 to consider. As much as we all wanted 'Tia to roll her eyes and burst from the cocoon like a pissed off Monarch Butterfly, it didn't happen. There's a thousand fanon explanations, but if we take what we saw at face value, it means she's not an all-powerful fighter. Her strength is in words, in thoughts, in the little ponies that rally to her side. She also has a tendency to only bring a few token guards with her on trips.

When you pool all that together, it's entirely possible one blood-crazed vampire could hack through her honor guard and get lucky with a surprise attack. Or, even more terrifying to contemplate, sneak into her room one night while she's on a diplomatic mission, far from Canterlot. Even if she wakes up, she's exhausted, disoriented, and hesitant to nuke half the building. That second of hesitation might be all it takes.

I'm gonna stop now. Got shivers down my spine. But, you see what I mean, it's entirely possible for her to get bit. Also, just because she's a physical embodiment of Harmony doesn't mean that her blood is radioactive to vampires. If you've ever played Vampire: The Masquerade, you know that most of the "modern" vampires take a sick pleasure from corrupting or draining the innocent. Celestia's not made of gold, she's a living creature with a beating heart who's devoted her life to her little ponies. That purity makes the blood all the sweeter.

Sorry that was kinda long! I hope it's useful.

886327
Belief is a strong force no matter what universe you are in. Even if Celestia knows she isn't a goddess, her ponies do think that she is one.

What I meant about frying the vampony is that it's isn't Celestia herself frying it but the Sun himself through the connection shared between the Sun and Celestia.

(Fanon reason why Celestia was beaten: she was given a magic poison, flakes of cold iron/hematite mixed in with her food and drink)

886327
That's just how I plan things. I always look ahead.

Maybe not right away, but after ten years? Twenty? They have cake in exile too!

That's probably the end result but I'm probably not writing that far. The aim of the story was character exploration after all.

Personally? If I ever did this -and I wouldn't because I stink as a writer right now- I would be partial to the Nobles of Vampire Hunter D. Everything we know about "proper" vampires... plus the whole 'burn up like paper in a fire while standing in sunlight' thing... Also, the Nobles are described as if the beautiful night itself took physical form... and are brilliant scientists, having created many of the beasties of the Frontier.

That said, M1Garand8, that was just me gushing over Vampire Hunter D, and I hope you do whatever you feel is best, and not attempt to cater to EVERYONE.