No one's important. No one's special. Except for the princesses.
Blueblood's always known this. He's always accepted this. He'll never be special. He'll never do anything important.
But now he has to. There's too much at stake.
He knows he'll fail, but he has to try. Because...
That bizarre creative urge is called passion, and it shows. I do think a slow philosophical beginning isn't usually the best way to start a story in general, but for anyone looking to decide if they want to read it or not, this one starts at the bottom and dives straight through the roof.
I love Blueblood. He has so much potential. All we have from the show is that he is a Prince and an ass. The fandom can fill in the blanks, does he have good reasons? Or if he really is a jerk, how can he be filled out as a character? Given fan-fiction, he's my favorite pony.
Most stories with Blueblood, particularly if he's a protagonist, need to explain his actions on-screen. Crushing potential suiters as a guilty pleasure? Yes. I have to say that taking Blueblood's canon actions at face value, and not having him be apologetic about it is incredibly satisfying. It makes him a really interesting character.
Anyways, regarding the story itself, I don't have too much to say. My only criticism is that I feel the ending would be stronger without that last section. Still, it was great. With some proper irony, heroism and a good characterization of Blueblood, it makes me very happy.
Well, this just made my day.
Read this out loud, with Aphex Twin's Stone in Focus playing as the BGM. It fit the philosophical tale of a broken, sour hero going against overwhelming odds with a single, selfless purpose, no matter the consequences to him, because he doesn't matter; his goal does.
I can't hold how many kudos I have for this story. Have a slow clap of admiration.
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I do enjoy the same, considering Rarity really was just trying to get up to him as a Gold-Digger too.
But wow, the thought process in this is creepy yet interesting, I love it! Interesting story.
That scary moment when there's a good Blueblood story that makes you unhate him while you read.
A well-deserved thumbs up
Finally, somebody who doesn't write Blueblood as a complete king of jerks. I give you kudos and just want to say that it was beautiful. So beautiful....I need a tissue now...
This was wonderful. I loved every second of it.
I buckin' love this! I buckin' love Blueblood! I buckin' love you for making this!
This is a great read! I enjoyed the fast pace.
I don't think I've ever read such a tale of self-awareness, resignation, and devotion.
Very well-done.
Bravo Zulu. Well done.WELL DONE
[applause]
Amazing. Simply amazing.
Interesting writing style, as yoh said, not really "cold".
It reminds me of the sketches of a drawing. Maybe a bit unclear, blurred, imperfect, but that can be more expressive than a fully inked and refined draw.
Faved for reference material.
Ay oh!
Really loved this story; I always like to think through situations that explain, develop, or at least humanize Bleublood, though I'm as likely to think him a brat as anything else. Still, I really enjoyed your take on him.
On a side note, were you recently reading Ecclesiastes? Because this story is essentially a paraphrase of the book's entire message. Heck, even the structure is parallel; beginning with a dismissal of everything being vanity, because of the recurrence of life and death in nature making mockeries of our ambitions, and then continuing into a contrast with things eternal (Celestia), and finally concluding by finding meaning in love and obedience to her, in whatever station one is born in.
This was a touching story. Blueblood honestly believed that only Celestia mattered in that world. Not even himself.
3780714 Except for he fact that his 'transition' felt completely under-done.
Frankly, he suddenly became some other character.
I could buy this story if it was a pony who wasn't Blueblood, because I cannot see Blueblood suddenly becoming this character. There must be a better 'transformative' period in which he undergoes the changes, otherwise this is merely a fanon favoritist interpretation.
I like your blueblood.
The only reason most people hate him is because he was something of a dick to Rarity, but we don't actually know anything about the guy.
I hope he'll have a nice funeral. With a statue.
This fic, I like it
But I'm not sure if I want "ANOTHER!" or not.
This feels very one-shot-y, the tragic hero dying after the apex of his character is reached. He may have preached a "wrong" message, but he held to it to the end. If this was it, I would be satisfied.
However, leaving Blueblood alive gives an opportunity for growth and change, and honestly I would like to see where this take on Blueblood "goes" when he lives through his final hurrah and now has to put up with entirely deserved praise and adoration, along with the fallout of terrifying Celestia by dying and/or Rarity seeing her "Prince Charmless" be genuinely Princely. There is a story there, and I can't help but wonder about it.
Either way it's an excellent addition to the site and I'm glad to have read it. Good job sirrah.
I don't think it's fair to criticize Blueblood as out of character. We know so little about him, that it's impossible to write him out of character, since he has no canon character. When the fandom treats him as a drunken xenophobic perverted asshole, it becomes such a common portrayal that everyone just assumes that’s how he really is. We never actually see Blueblood interact with anyone outside of Rarity, who as many people have pointed out was being nearly intolerable throughout that episode herself. It’s possible Blueblood has a much deeper personality, and was a) annoyed that another gold-digger was trying to up talk him, b) was suffering from a horrible hang over c) was already in a committed relationship that has been kept out of the papers by the powers-that-be d) was purposely trying to break Rarity so she wouldn’t be seduced by the glitz and glimmer of high society and return to Ponyville and the natural life (all those are taken from excellent Blueblood fics.) The point I’m making is, it is not right to criticize Blueblood’s character. There is no evidence that your portrayal is any less legitimate than someone who writes him as a sleazy womanizer.
Anyway, a reason I picked this was it seemed to be a positive portrayal of Blueblood. I support anytime he is portrayed in a well thought out manner, good or bad.
And this fic was good. Let me preface all criticisms with: I am Thumbing this up. Don’t worry. I’m not going to thumb you down. It certainly doesn’t deserve that. It’s an interesting portrayal.
Problems though, and feel free to stop reading now since I know some people simply aren’t interested in criticism, and I see no problem with that:
This fic moves slow. Blue, we get it: life is meaningless. I get your depressed. I want to hug you so much and cuddle with your strange, front heavy build. You have no idea. But a lot of the introduction can be trimmed. We only need to be told of his reverence for the princess once, maybe twice. Five times at the most. Not fifteen.
Believe me, I understand repetition of motifs and it’s one of my favorite literary techniques, but it just gets overdone. Granted, I’m a very minimalistic writer myself, but a lot of this feels like fluff. It feels like with a good editor, the fic could have been trimmed much more, because by the time we finally learn that Ironshod is finally introduced, I kind of didn’t care.
Who is Ironshod anyway?
His role seems like it could have been fulfilled by a canon character. Sombra immediately springs to mind. The use of a canon character is that you are providing the reader with a character we already understand and can attribute an appearance, motif, and motives to. Sombras use of crystals is an easy substitute for Ironshod’s chains. Sombra’s “aggressive kinghood” (which I have always assumed was a self-appointed title), would make an EXCELLENT parallel to Blueblood’s lax, though legitimate, prince hood (assuming, like I assume, his father was part of a royal family, but I am not going to hijack your comment section with my theories… if I already… sorry…)
Ironshod has a great presence, but also… who is he? Maybe he’s heavily in the fandom, I don’t know. But I don’t feel the same level of presence that perhaps I would have felt had you used Sombra.
To say nothing of the fact that Sombra would actually have been portrayed as legitimately monstrous and badass, instead of the… well, let’s not talk about the canon.
I did like that Blueblood didn’t somehow Sue Swagger his way through Ironshod. The description of Celestia coming to was well written, with the speed and confusion of it giving a sense that Blueblood was slipping away. The description of Ironshod getting obliterated was well done. The ending was well done. Definitely towards the middle, the fic picks up, and though there are some confusing passages, such as the clunky duel, the fic definitely ends strongly.
Anyway, these are just my thoughts. Congrats on the Feature Box.
Wow, a very great story that not only have such a great philosophical message, but also have used Blueblood to help compliment the theme excellently well. A story such as this is very daring and bold, for any character could easily fulfilled the leading role, but you chosen a character that is very unliked in the community. Very daring.
I do have to wonder what Applejack had thought about the scene she witness with the Greyshod and Blueblood duel, since readers gained the impression of what Luna and Celestia had been thinking by expression throughout the fight.
Anyhow, well done, my man. I enjoyed the story and how you made up a villain to represent as a obstacle to the story. Keep up the good work!
3781343 Perhaps, but can this be applied to other characters considering what we have seen in the episode? We seen many fanfic stories that shows preferable treatment to evil or bad characters.
Such as Princess Luna, who freely misused her power for personal gain in order for people liking her night more which would had caused suffering to everyone, and is known to try to kill people that would try to stop her. Gilda, who goes out of her way to make grief to pony characters, such the infamous scene with her yelling at Fluttershy. And what of Chrysalis, instead of choosing peace and coexistence that she would rather rule them all with an iron-fist and show that Changelings are the superior race, making her Equestria's closest resemblance to Hitler and the Nazi.
Perhaps the strongest example would be Trixie when you consider her debut episode. She made a complete fool out of everyone who participate in a friendly competition, using children to do her bidding, bringing despair deliberately to others for sake of fame and fortune, who by the end of the episode refuses to acknowledge the error of her ways? Yet, how many stories have one seen about how tragically misunderstood she is in this site?
Can it be said that to give a sad/sympathetic background for these character but Blueblood is is merely fanon favoritist interpretation itself, at least when you consider that the prince's misdeeds are relatively minor and neutral (having no malicious or benevolent intent) when you look at others?
This is just....wow.
There are many stories.
Some make you cry. Some make you laugh. Some fill you with wonder.
And then there's this kind of story.
Which does this:
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And gets this:
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Well done, man. WELL done indeed.
~Skeeter The Lurker
Great story all around. I always enjoy these ones that portray Blueblood in a positive light.
This one is short and beautiful. I kind of wish we saw what happened to Blueblood and whether he lives but that's no the point of this story. There is so much to this story. The consequences of having immortals, what it means to be a hero, and you do such a good job of giving us Blueblood's perspective with him choosing the most logical course of action based on his beliefs, because only the princesses matter.
Can I just say that I adored this story? Because I adored this story. There's something poetic in how Blueblood's own conviction that he's worthless is what ultimately allows him to triumph in the end. Those of a more traditionally heroic mindset would have had too much self preservation for that. Additionally, the writing itself is just beautiful, well constructed and flows nicely. It's almost hypnotizing to read.
Wonderful, absolutely wonderful.
This was amazingly well written! I loved it! I loved the writing style! It was confusing but made everything so sensual and caring.
Holy hell this is awesome. :D
I couldn't stop reading till the end. I pity the readers who don't give this a chance because of Blueblood.
This was an amazing fic. I usually don't like one-shots all that much but this was just.... I lack the words to describe it. Well Done.
Ponies playing cricket? How would that even work? Oh yeah, nice story.
Wow...this is absolutely perfect. Worthy of all kinds of praise, but I'll keep it kind of short. This story made me think a ton, and I really love it. This is a great story, deserving of way more views. Thanks for the read.
This story is just awesome.
EDIT: I particularly liked Blueblood's worship of Celestia. That's a character trait I've never seen attributed to him before and it's not at all out of sync with his canon portrayal.
Simply amazing.
Well, that was unexpected and different. Good job, I enjoyed myself reading that.
*long paragraph about impression*
Well well well, a story where Blueblood isn't a total D-Bag.
Nicely done.
This story was absolutely epic! The way you portrayed Blueblood is very interesting. Instead of a stuck up noble pony with aspirations of glory and debauchery you wrote him as a pony who knew his place and that it wasn't going to change. Almost like some kind of caste system. Wow, just wow. Liked and Faved!
Now this, THIS, this is a Blueblood that I love. Absolutely fantastic
3781622 To be fair, both Blueblood and Rarity weren't really showing their best sides there. Of course we're expected to sympathize with Rarity, who we've gotten to know over the course of season 1, and not as much Blueblood who is... just there. Before Best Night Ever all we knew was Blueblood was Celestia's nephew (How far removed, we don't know) but that's it. What is his job? What does his cutie mark mean? Does he have reasons for being a jerk?
Is he a stuck-up noblepony who could care less about the rabble?
Did he try to make friends, had people assume because he was a prince he was a snob and became a snob himself?
Is he a good pony trying to keep up a facade because it's expected of him?
Any of the above would be legitimate versions of the guy.
Bravo, Sir, Bravo.
Carry On
That was great. Existentialist, but the concept was woven well with canon and characterization.
Well done, but I'm honestly not on board with the stance that this somehow makes BB likable. As far as I'm concerned, him acting like this is just another flavor of jerkitude.
So... no follow up?
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>Sacrifices himself to save Princess Celestia, Luna, and Elements of Harmony
>"What an asshole!"
I... what?! How do you come to that conclusion? I simply can't process your logic.
Wonderful.
Blueblood thinks as I do, and I too would do as he did. It's not that things matter in the end, but that you find that one thing the drives you to do and keep it safe. You took my philosophy and turned it into this work of prose so fitting for a character we know nothing about. If you think about Blueblood having this mindset, everything he said in his single showing was an act. An actor playing his part in a play he cares nothing about.
But it makes his princess happy.
3784161 It's about his reasons for doing so. He's morose and nihilistic the entire fic long and really his only motivation is to somehow set the world to rights. The narration makes it pretty explicit during the buildup scene that BB does not give one solitary hoot about anypony besides the Princesses, and even Luna seems debatable. He's solely motivated by a blind sense to duty to Celestia and nothing more.
That's why I still don't like him here.
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Remember, we do see Blueblood again while Rarity is visiting Canterlot in 'Sweet and Elite', and while we only see them together for a second or two during her song, they seem to be getting on rather cordially with each other.
If he was really the irredeemable jerk the fandom regularly makes him out to be, I can't see that little scene happening. If he was just acting that way during the Gala to scare off what he saw as yet another random gold digger on the other hand, then there's the possibility that he and Rarity were able to work things out between them offscreen.