This story is a sequel to A Very Merry Chrysalis
What really happened in the days leading up to Equestria's founding? Sure everyone knows the Hearth's Warming stories, but do those tell the whole story? Were things really so simple, that they could be fit into a half-hour play?
Perhaps there was more to this story than anyone remembered. Perhaps the Founders faced greater challenges than anyone knew, and led more turbulent lives than most ponies could understand.
What does any of that have to do with the mysterious book Twilight had been gifted, all those months ago?
And why is it that it's Chrysalis that has the answers to these questions?
-Another story, inspired by some offhand details in another story, that gained some traction. Shares the same continuity with my other stories, though it's most directly a sequel to 'A Very Merry Chrysalis'. Please Enjoy.-
The explanation for those pajamas turned out to be surprisingly prosaic and logical.
5766295 Such is life. Sometimes the extraordinary, has a rather mundane explanation.
I smell world building
I'm looking forward for more.
And now I am caught up.
This is looking like it is going to be some fun worldbuilding and the like, and it should be fun to see more of Twilight and Chrysalis going back and forth, although I am honestly more curious to see how she gets along with Spike because I do not think I have seen that before.
5769437 Yeah, this is a bit of a time-skip. By this point, Chrysalis and Spike have encountered one another more than once. I'll be writing in those stories later. I'm starting this one because it was on my mind, I like the opportunity for world-building, and it won't be spoiler-y for any of the stories that take place between Advanced Lessons and this one.
Oh, neat. History Lessons has already gotten onto the front page's Popular Stories sidebar.
It fairness, that seems reasonably accurate.
My god, those pajamas. I mean, on one hand it's nice to know Chrysalis ended up with a set, but on the other, oh my god.
I always like the idea of Twilight being familiar with the ponies that would have been around the castle from her history of living there. It'd be a stretch to suddenly have her be close friends with any of them, but her at least knowing their names makes plenty of sense.
Responds, present tense? Is he still alive?
I can't wait to find more out about Platinum and Tempest, the potential implications of their relationship and whatever similarities it might have with Twilight and Spike are really interesting to think about.
5773010 Yeah, Twilight was a bit too frazzled at the time to pick up on every detail of Chrysalis' words, such as the use of present tenses. Given that it was suggested that a dragon's nap can last for centuries, it didn't seem a stretch for a particularly old dragon to reach a couple of thousands years of age. Though there aren't really any older than that, at least in my stories. And Celestia and Luna are still older than that.
All will be revealed in due time.
I've actually got a solid idea of how this will go from beginning to end.
Well, that was fun as usual, although I do not really have all that much to say on the chapter itself. That said, it would be nice to have a link to the author's profile in the author's note so we can look up the rest of the art ourselves.
Also, on an unrelated note, how much of Hero Antagonist hinges on the little details of the episode and how much of it is just what we already know about Trixie and the broad strokes of the episode? I am thinking I am probably not going to bother watching it based on what I have heard so I do not care about spoilers, but I would like to read that story so long as it is possible to understand it without knowing all the details of the episode.
So far I find your depiction of history to be one of the most interesting I've encountered, which is made all the sweeter by the fact that it's being told by an absolutely perfectly written Chrysalis. Also, Hard Note's youthful naivette is the perfect contrast for her and makes the dynanic between him and Chryssy incredibly enjoyable to read. That's not to mention the entertainment value of him stymying Twilight with child logic.
Keep up the great work!
6011968 I'll be sure to add a link to the artist's collection on DeviantArt; I think they go by Emkay, and they have some interesting pics for all of the Founders.
And as far as I can tell you don't really need to know anything in particular about the recent episodes to enjoy Hero Antagonist. Anything relevant I intend on making apparent in the story itself. Some will be more obvious than others for those that have watched it, but it should hold up well enough on it's own.
6012488 I'm glad you're enjoying things so far. I really wanted to put a unique spin on Equestria's history, while properly drawing upon the source material so one could...connect the two. If you're curious about any details about things, I'd be happy to share them. The next chapter will involve Twilight stopping things to answer some pertinent questions, including some that I think might be raised for the readers. But, it's nothing I wouldn't be willing to share at this point.
6012619 Cool, I'll check out those pictures and read the story after I take care of some other stuff.
For some reason this didn't show up in my list of unread favorites (only appearing once I happened to click on "View all by updated"), so I'm a few days late.
I do fear I find the stuff with Chrysalis in the modern day more interesting than the story she's telling. But then not much has happened there yet. The Princess has come home, said she accomplished nothing, and argued with her father. Now that the characters are set up, perhaps it will move more.
Thanks for mentioning this again. It had been so long between updates I forgot she was wearing those pajamas.
6908778 I was kind of setting the stage at this point, making it clear who all the major players were in the story at this point. From here on, things will be growing a bit more active in terms of story advancement. We'll be seeing her working around her father's decrees and forcing others to get behind the idea of the expedition for a new land in the next update. From here on, it will mostly be focused on the past events with interjections by Spike, Twilight, Hard Note, and others to break things up.
And I have been making a bit more of a point to remind the readers of the visuals present for different characters, bringing a more vivid picture of the individuals and setting.
Great characterisations and character interactions. It's both incredibly amusing and d'awwww worthy to watch Chryssie devoting so much time to a kid.
Typical ponies, blaming other races for their own shortcomings.
Interesting take on the history of the setting.
Chryssie is best troll.
The ancient unicorns should all be wearing pointy white hoods.
7217523 Yeah, I wanted to remind everyone with this story that each of the tribes were very distrusting of one another and very much did not think much of one another. Even in the midst of a crisis that no one could understand, they weren't willing to work together. And, yeah, each of the three tribes is kind of racist in their own ways, with the unicorns seeing everyone as crude and lacking in honor, the pegasi seeing others as weak and soft, and the Earth ponies believing the other tribes to be amoral and self-centered. Indeed, Princess Platinum is still an elitist, a bit of a racist, and believes in the Divine Right to rule while being openly disparaging of democracy. That's entirely intentional, as a case of Deliberate Values Dissonance. She believes ponies that are below her in society should know their place, that the other tribes are completely unreasonable and at fault, and that she deserves to rule by virtue of being born into the role. However, she's also a firm believer in the concept of noblesse oblige, that an inherent responsibility of hers is to look after those below her. She was more willing than most to try reaching out to the other tribes, going so far as to go against her father to make the attempt. And she constantly strives to make sure that will be a good ruler, rather than leaning back and letting it fall into her lap. Overall, it was my intent to make her a character of both vice and virtue, one that reflects the problems of the time in their history and shows her as an ideal individual of the time.
Ponies have come a long way from before the founding of Equestria, I guess is what I intend to show. Hopefully, I'll be updating this one soon.
Shame you haven't continued, this is quite good.
8974310
I'm glad you think so.
It's good to see this update, and I liked the addition of Luna to explore her relationship with Chrysalis. Unfortunately the historical stuff still hasn't moved much, although that did finally change with the last exchange so things should pick up quite a bit whenever this updates again.
Always good to see this update. I did a little re-reading to keep up on what was going on.
Every time you mention those pajamas cracks me up. And apparently Luna approves, too. in between accidentally implying she's currently 'canoodling Chrysalis' and accidentally implying she's not but she would with Celestia's permission.
9497945
Yeah, it has been kind of embarrassing how slow updates have been going, but I'm plodding along. And I figured for this chapter, there'd be a bit more banter going on between everyone with one more addition to the storytelling party. Anywho, it's about time to start leaning into the meat of this story. Probably going to put out another update for Hero Antagonist, then another for this one, just to keep momentum going.
9498048
Hearing that there’s still work being done on this story, even if it’s slow, is awesome!
Political intrigue!
And Trollsalis, yay!
Hopefully, this and the Intermediate Lessons story will continue eventually.
'occasion out her in the cold' - here
'to hold is ground now' - his
'scrutinizing gaze on lord’s countenance' - on the lord's