Raven Inkwell picked the wrong week to take a vacation. Specifically, the week when Shining Armor was brought in to consult on improving Canterlot Castle's defenses against the threat of Grogar and his cronies.
To say that Raven has a mess waiting for her when she gets back is a colossal understatement.
Not a crossover with Untitled Goose Game—as of Episode 200, the wingèd menace is canon!
An entry in FanOfMostEverything's "Imposing Sovereigns II: Once and Future" contest, under the prompt: "Raven Inkwell — War." An earlier version of this story appeared in the November 2019 Writeoff, "Rot," from which the cover art was also sourced.
Chapters (1)
Obnoxious geese are the most amazing thing
And the banter here was great!
Thanks for writing, I really enjoyed this.
Hey, if it worked well enough for the Romans, surely it should work for Equestria as well?
I would like to imagine the geese came from suddenly transforming the House of Lords in Equestria Parliament. Give the (former) nobles something actually useful to do with all that squawking
I suddenly recall that Goose game that came out recently.
And we thought Cozy Glow was evil... though that does explain Zephyr Breeze.
"In a few moons, you'll hoof the crown to Princess Twilight practically against her will. The precendent's already been set."
Great stuff throughout, along with one of the more successful coups in recent history. It's always nice to see a "reality ensues" fic that can look at logical consequences without being mean about it. Thank you for this and best of luck in the judging.
This was magnificent! I loved how quickly and boldly Raven took the lead! She really is the pony that makes Equestria run!
She would make a great ruler.
Long live Princess Raven!
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Maybe we could do that with the Congress and the Senate in our country...
How does one contract for magical conver?
And thus began the glorious reign of Queen Raven the First, who in her first twelve hours of rulership reduced the price for roast goose on the griffon markets by half, established a minimum training requirement on the Royal Guard (must be able to beat up at least one Filly Scout without harming the cookies), and managed to raise enough bits to balance the budget by selling permits for the new sport of Sky Surfing, propelled by the new propeller security system for the castle. Also among her accomplishments were quashing the Tirek/Cozy/Chrysalis uprising by sending a letter to Tirek's mother, a similar one for Cozy Glow, and opening the Equestrian court system to changeling plaintifs who wanted to sue their former hive-leader for emotional trauma and loss of filial support. Princess Luna was greatly impressed, and after wresting control of the kingdom back by way of a rousing game of Battleclouds (full scale, using the Royal Guard and some of Cloudsdale's excess inventory), declared that the deposed regent be given a long-awaited raise, two spare pairs of glasses, and the title of Duchess of the Realm.
This has to be the quickest, cleanest (relatively speaking), most bureaucratic coup of all time. And I loved every second! Thanks for writing it.
Raven: “Now *I* am ruler of Equestria!”
Celestia: “Yes you are, you silly goose!”
There is something to be said about the competence of the ruler of a kingdom who allows the prince consort of the ruler of a neighboring empire access to, and even complete control over, their primary security force.
No wonder Luna assisted with the coup.
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He prefers to think of it as "working for exposure". If anybody in Equestria is a wannabe influncer it's Zephyr Breeze. Also frankly Zephyr is no less demonstratively competent than the rest of the guard.
Raven: WHY GEESE!? WHY OF ALL BIRDS WOULD YOU GET GEESE!?
Celestia: I had read in this old book that geese crow when anything poisonous is put in to the king's meals....
Can YOU crow when anything poisonous is put in to my meals Raven?
Raven: KRAAAAA!!!
I loved this FimFic=) Loved itxD Loved itxD Loved itxD
And that's how both pump action 12 gauge shotguns and the sport of hunting came to Canterlot, which proved to be unintentionally useful when an evil flock of Leprechaun lawyers showed up to investigate if the phrase "they're magically resistant" was close enough to a certain breakfast cereal's slogan to constitute copyright infringement...
You do have a knack for the comedy, here, have five Pinkie Pies out of five.
Well, that was a... thing.
Who is Raven Inkwell, though? I've seen the name here and there, so I feel like I should know it, but no bells are ringing.
Cute, although I reached the end and tried to click through to chapter 2 and got a little disoriented that there wasn't one. I would love to see this be expanded out to the rise and fall of Princess Raven and how the status quo gets restored.
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This pony. In the comics she's Princess Celestia's royal aide.
Agreed with everyone else here: this was delightful for dialogue and for Raven's ambition, and I'm only sad there isn't more of it
Well, this was fun. :3