This story is a sequel to Celestia XVII
Late one night, Twilight Velvet wakes from a deep sleep. She can tell that something is coming--but, in a million years, she would never have expected the ghost from her past who comes knocking.
Part of the Celestia XVII Alt-Universe, in which alicorns are mortal. Familiarity with at least the broad outlines of that universe will help this story make a lot more sense.
Content Warning: Very mild language, and mentions of death. I feel it's mild enough to warrant the "Everyone" rating, though.
Edited by Orsuros.
Ooh, hey! Featured on 2/7/2018!
Chapters (1)
I'm curious to see if that A/N gets you any pushback from readers. That aside, I like how this turned out. For spoilers' sake, I won't specify exactly what.
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I'm rather curious, now...
Well, let's see what happens as more comments roll in.
I'm totally putting myself in the hot, steamy lesbians crowd~~~~~ Yay!
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But I just--! I said--!
*Mumbles to self* The author is dead, the author is dead, the author is dead...
Srsly tho, could you slap some spoiler tags on that comment? Thanks :)
Yeah. I got nothing for what might have happened. Lovers, or one stole another's stallion is way too convenient of an explanation. All I got.
Is that it must have been one massive clusterfuck for this to be the result.
Well done. An intriguing and perfect self contained little story. It needs nothing more, and hits you like a freight train.
Whatever happened in Faust and Velvet's past that caused them to fall out, I don't know.
But I can say that even though Faust was dying, she made the ultimate effort to try and make peace with her mistakes.
And this is why I give this 10/10 salutes for hitting me smack in the feels!
o7 o7 o7 o7 o7 o7 o7 o7 o7 o7
A very pleasant surprise to find when I came home this evening, I really am loving this AU. Like others I’m guessing at what caused the rift between Celestia and Velvet. Going back to a chapter from the original story, I seem to remember Cece’s mother was stated to have reformed a lot of Equestria’s legal system given that that is Velvet’s area of expertise is it possible that the ideas for the reforms were Velvet’s and Celestia took credit, keeping her out of the process giving her good reason to be bitter as well as Night Light. Just my two cents is all.
going to say what happen was velvet ask princess to be best mare but she said she would but something happen, that princesss could have rescheduled but choose not to....... or made wedding into some kind of political event
Definitely an appropriately emotional one-shot. Excellent prequel to your previous story. I LOVED the work you did on the exchanges and characterizations. Indeed, that final, desperate chat between Velvet and Celestia's mom before the latter died had exactly the right mix of appropriate anger, tear-jerker and heartwarming . And yeah, it was a great detail that, despite the bad blood between Velvet and Celestia's mom, the latter still trusted the former enough to appoint her caretaker for her children .
Indeed, I WILL be looking forward to more of your work. However, I will also respect the fact that you doubtlessly have other matters in the real world that require attention too. :-D
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Yeah. I have to admit, that IS a VERY logical sounding theory as to what caused the riff between Velvet and Celestia's mom. I couldn't think of what it could possibly be until you came up with this. Brilliantly thought out. Thanks very much for sharing it with us.
8719273 And I can see exactly why she would do it that way too.
"If those changes in the law were put forth by a commoner, every noble in the entire kingdom would be dead set against them until my grandchildren had grandchildren! Even if you put them out there with my blessing, you're poison to their insular little minds. They'd scream bloody blue murder at anything even resembling those reforms, and we'd never pry their sticky claws off their 'rights and privileges' ever! As your Sovereign, I am ordering you to shut your big mouth, not just now, but forever about this issue, and that is final!"
ummm... i'm not sure anyone touched on this, or if i missed something important...... but where's Luna?
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This is actually set about five years before Luna's return.
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Just to be 100% clear: in Celestia XVII, Princess Celestia says she was 12 when her mother died (which takes place in this fic). Luna returns when Celestia is about 17. So, yeah, Luna will be banished for another 5 years or so.
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You just said you weren't revealing it, ergooooo my statement is correct as far as I am concerned mwahaahahaha
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This is a very good theory.
3. If it was: Velle and the Princessalmost certainlyweren't lovers, seeing as they both went on to marry stallions.
MAGICAL BISEXUALS THOUGH!
Said or unsaid, this is a nice addition to the AU you've created. There is also lots of snarling. And I caught the trick with leaving Cece's mom's name out of this story.
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Thanks, as always, for your comments!
I'll be frank: I don't feel I'm skilled enough to address issues of gender identity/sexual preference in my writing--it's just not an issue I have lots of experience with, personally. However, as I said, if this interpretation adds depth to the story for you, then, by all means, you're welcome to it.
And, I'm glad you picked up on that "trick." As I said in my blog post, I kinda prefer keeping the Princess at least somewhat anonymous. That said, there's been enough speculation about what happened that I'm debating writing a sequel, in which we see their friendship break down--but that's gotta wait until after "Celestia XVII-2," at least.
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No prob. And I think I remember you having an asexual Celestia in one story? (Or was that someone else?)
It was more me pointing out that with them both marrying stallions and starting families, and somehow being lovers in the past, they'd have to be bi or pan - most likely. Word of the Author still reigns, though.
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Yeah, I had an asexual Celestia, in "For the Good of Equestria"--but my initial intention was to write her more as "just stopped trying" than deliberately ace. But you commentary definitely helped me realize what was going on there!
And, consider all these comments "Word of God"--which, as we all know, isn't exactly canon
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Ah yes, the Celestia in there was ace!
And your story, your AU, your canon, yo.
Unfortunately, your A/N isn't part of the text, so it doesn't count. You gotta tell us what happened!
This made me cry quite a bit. Broken friendships do that to me. Perhaps I haven't had friendships end like it sounds like theirs did but former friends told me they did not want to be friends anymore.
That is true. I think I need a fresh hankie. This brings up memories.
It's probably for the best that we don't know what caused the rift. So long a you have an idea of what caused it, that is all that matters.
I suspect we'll read more hints in possible future stories. Or not.
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Somehow, I missed this comment.
Thank you for writing. I'm always humbled when people tell me that my stories made them cry. I'm taking that--plus your hankie--as high praise.
So, thanks again. And I hope you keep reading!
Welp, that's what I get for not following you after you wrote the prequel; I miss a fantastic little story that gives us a side of the nameless princess that Cece's memories never could. Until now, anyway.
Seriously, great work in both Velvet and Fausticorn's parts. As for the cause of the fallout, I do like the ghostwritten reforms hypothesis, though part of me can't help lean in a different direction. It may have been a slow burn, with the princess taking Velvet for granted as just another functionary as she lost herself in her efforts to improve Equestria. That functionary just happened to have the role of Royal Best Friend... until she decided she didn't anymore. Still, that doesn't explain Night Light's outrage nearly as well as the other possibility.
Whatever the case, thank you for it. I'll go make sure I'll be notified of future installments.
Eh...... Feels less like a prequel (yes, I know it says sequel but it takes place beforehand so its a prequel :P ) and more like a fanfic of a fanfic.
This is a great addition to the original fic! Seeing this AU be explored further is a joy, and I loved the intentional vagueness that permeates this fic.
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As, thanks!
This is not quite true. Velvet is almost certainly straight given that she is happily married to Night Light. For the Princess, the situation is less clear. We never learn much about her relationship with her husband. The fact that she was in a heterosexual relationship could simply reflect the pressures of needing to produce an heir (after all, Blueblood is not eligible to inherit the throne and Cece has no younger siblings).
So, my headcanon for those who prefer the magical lesbian princess theory: the Princess confessed her love for Velvet at a particularly inopportune time (e.g. Velvet and Night Light's wedding), perhaps even trying to break up the happy couple. Maybe rumors of the events got misinterpreted by the tabloids (which were very unflattering and troublesome to Velvet and Night Light), and the Princess was unwilling let the truth come out to correct the record and restore their reputation.
On another note, I've really enjoyed reading about this alternative universe you've created and how to see more works at in it in the future.
It's really wrong that neither Velvet nor Celestia felt they had to inform Night Light, let alone even ask his permission; regardless of the fact that he would say yes. Whatever epic falling out the two had, this is affecting his life too, and the development of all four children. He deserve the time, however limited, to prepare for this. With Celestia, she's literally dying as she settles her affairs, so I can forgive her for rushing things. But Velvet must have had at least 30 hours to let her husband know, "Our monarch is dying and we'll be raising royalty soon." I really do believe the intense hurt Velvet feels over this, and I completely respect the Death of the Author. If this story had called out her character flaw of being so afraid or resentful of the subject to not breach it with her life partner, I probably would have been sold on that as well. But there is no acknowledgement or fallout from it, besides one sentence of implication from Night Light. So besides Velvet not treating Night Light as a complete charcter, it doesn't feel like the author did either. This is the largest issue I can file with this 'lost prologue chapter' of Celestia XVII.
You can has review!
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Thanks for the shout-out! I appreciate it :)
Ack! Glad I found these again forgot to follow you when I first read this series.
Time to reread and read anew!!