Having been sent to a foreign country in an effort to cease their attacks on Equestria's shipping and perhaps prevent a war, Prince Blueblood and Shining Armor find themselves under the attention of the mighty Margess, ruler of the brutal Principate.
While Shining Armor goes to conquer their renowned gladiatorial arena, Blueblood must do what he hates most: speak the truth.
Winner of Everfree Northwest 2017's Iron Author competition. Preserved in its original form save for a few slight word changes and editing.
Chapters (1)
Trying to give this story a like but the button doesn't seem to be responding?
Love your descriptions and how much info you're able to reveal to the reader through simple details and characters actions without having to actually state said info.
For some bizarre reason I have not read your other stories apart from the Unfinished series and after reading this I am realizing that that needs to change.
Damn, dude.
I can see why this won. Excellent work.
~Skeeter The Lurker
I really liked this when they released the results. It definitely earned its winner's title.
Well done! This definitely earned the top prize.
I don't know what to feel about this. I can't like this or hate this. It feels too incomplete. What was the point this story was trying to get across??
Wow, that was a good read.
Some of the best Blueblood I've read, without question. Thank you for it.
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There was a time limit of only two hours to write the story, and I chose not to expand on it because this is the version that was turned in.
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Maybe next year I'll earn another one. An' another one. An' another one. An' another one.
I liked the story when it won the contest, and I like it again upon re-reading.
That you came up with it and wrote it in only two hours is pretty amazing to begin with (I suspect some readers aren't aware of the time limit that was imposed for the contest). You got a whole lot in there, and a lot of great imagery.
The other thing that really worked for it was pairing Blueblood and Shining. I can't recall any other fic where the two of them have been the main characters, and damned if you didn't make it work. And you made it work well--now, I'm a little bit behind on the show, so there may have been a Blueblood reformation episode I missed, but I don't think there was, so in some ways he was kinda OOC from what we saw . . . and yet, in the context of the story, it was utterly believable.
Finally, the way that you mixed some comedy in with a serious story was very well done. Both the joke about Shining throwing his wife, and with Blueblood dropping his drink on the floor because he thought that the serving tray was there were just perfect, and a nice little bit of tension release for the reader.
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There wasn't a reformation episode for him. There was, however, a comic with him and Shining (Friend Forever nr. 26) which portrayed Blueblood as a gifted diplomat—as long as he's had the chance to prepare himself and get into the right mindset. It's actually worth a read.
What I especially enjoyed about this story is that it plays to the two characters' strengths. Shining Armor, the open, honest, wears-his-heart-on-his-sleeve warrior proves himself nigh-invincible against any threat that isn't Discord or Tirek or the like. He dominates the arena, until White Tusk appears. And then they come to a silent agreement.
Blueblood, on the other hand, is up there with the Alicorn pretender. He's too scared to be intimidated, as weird as it sounds. He must come off as totally badass in his own right, unwilling to be cowed as he is, and their hosts have no way of knowing. When he drops the glass, they believe he is challenging her. He's not activating his magic, he's dressing her down like a misbehaving child, he's even turning his back on her—he's inadvertently projecting utter disdain for her. He's terrified, but everything he does looks like the complete opposite, and the marquess can't see it, nor can her retainers.
There were two arenas here, and she was outplayed in both. It's wonderfully done, and I love it.
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This is one of the best analyses of my stories I have ever gotten. Thank you so much.
Of course that probably didn't end well for Blueblood. If the Marquis was rational she'd realize harming Blueblood is picking a fight with a nation she's severely underestimated. But the implication with the red glowing eyes is that she's embraced dark magic. That tends to do bad things to the wielder's rationality.
Great fic.
When you say it like that, it sounds pretty unbelievable
You know what I feel is pretty bullshit. That this story won the Iron Writer contest but its not in the Feature Box.
HOLY shit. This story is awesome. Have you done anything else with this concept of blueblood and SA going around taking names?
Blueblood being an actually noble.
Automatic +1
THIS is how a Noble acts noble. Well done.
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He hasn't (yet). But he aught to (now)
Damn, that was one hell of a dressing down he gave her.