It's reached the point of ritual. Every year, on the day the inductees are announced, the sisters wait for the courier to bring the news. And every year, their father fails to gain the hoofball athlete's ultimate honor: induction into the Immortal Livery, and a bronze statue within the Legendarium. By one vote. And in their opinion, he's been taking it a little too well.
But this year, he's going to attend the ceremony -- so he can provide the induction speech for his greatest rival. And he's invited his daughters along. A chance to trot among the greats of the game, and a day out as a family. That's how he sees it.
Rarity and Sweetie see it as a chance to find out why their father hasn't been voted in.
In the interests of attendee safety, all sewing needles will be confiscated at the door.
(Part of the Triptych Continuum, which has its own TVTropes page and FIMFiction group: new members and trope edits are welcome.)
Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages.
Title and name of inductee hall suggested by Tipper.
While this story follows up on a previous work, the only connection is in establishing character occupations. No knowledge of the earlier story is required.
A lovely story. Loved the history woven throughout.
It does make you wonder about all of the cracks in Equestrian society. This writer definitely shares many points of view with Starlight and I wonder on how you plan on addressing the idea of those who hate their mark and would either like a do over or just get rid of it. This writer definitely is taking some foalhood anger on sports out on everyone.
ICR the exact quote but Heinlein said something to the effect that
"Ordinarily it takes both a cow and a countess 9 months to accomplish this but it is well known that in her enthusiasm a new bride can sometimes do it faster. "
"Pony from Porlock"
An obvious reference to Coleridge's incomplete poem Kubla Khan which was interrupted by a stranger from Porlock.
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It's very old folk wisdom that the first baby can come any time after the wedding, but any subsequent child takes about 9 months. :shrugs: It's just one of God's mysterious ways that keeps everyone in the community safe and happy. :sage, wise nod:
Will try to give a proper review when I got the time.
Happy Holidays Estee. Thank you for this gift.
The NFL doesn't mention the strike, in MLB Curtis Flood isn't in the Hall Of Fame (& I doubt they talk a whole lot about steroid abuse or the rumors that the 1919 World Series wasn't the only fixed series, just the only one to get caught.)
This was amazing.
You can feel the passion in it for something the author loves, and that translates into what the characters love. That passion drives the story, it makes the sisters feel so real in everything, even sharing the joys of contemplated murder. I love the way the Belle-Ringer is written in all your works, Estee — proud and kind and noble in every meaning of the word. And the love his daughters have for him is so pure and obvious. The reveal with Sturmundrang was heartbreaking but beautiful. And even the pompous descriptions of the Livery and the failings of the League don’t detract at all from the ways in which it’s done things right, the beauty and importance and honour that it conveys.
As someone who’s not a big fan of professional sports, I wondered how much I’d like this story. But it turns out the answer is a lot. Like Rarity, I find to my surprise that you turned the spectacle of Hoofball into something I’d actually want to be a part of.
Magnificent as always. Thank you, Estee.
This is so good it hurts.
Loved the story. Always despised the cowards like Hottake, who never stood in the hoofball or any other arena themselves, but never at a loss to take shots at those who did dare failure in pursuit of greatness. It's too bad Rarity didn't get the chance to work in a comment about his cowardice, with "...and that's why nobody will remember your name."
Hopefully you've seen Kris Overstreet's "For the Love of the Love of the Game" before?
I love your off-screen characterization of Celestia here. The ever-sunny Solar Princess sometimes takes a dim view of her little ponies and their popular enthusiasms. She tries to be fair, tries to hold herself above petty grudges, but if you do finally manage to piss her off she’ll steer the damn sun around your stadium for your whole working career out of spite. That’s got to be an achievement worthy of the bronze right there!
I think that ballots for any HoF voting should be revocable. Sure, everyone is entitled to a few unpopular opinions. But if someone has a ridiculous ballot three years running- say, where enough of their votes are for candidates below a certain vote threshold like 10%, and when they don't vote for enough candidates who reach 80+%- their ballot should be revoked. Clearly, it means the voter is either an idiot or a douchebag, and possibly both.
Well done work, Estee. One little typo, though:
cite
Just when I think it's one thing...
It suddenly goes 273° degrees widdershins, and is something else entirely...
Outstanding...
Commissioner Goodbits. Snrk. Obvious in retrospect--as all the best lines are.
I'm a college football man, myself, which arguably puts me in with an even more corrupt and hypocritical lot.
Harder and harder to feel good about loving the sport every year, it seems like.
Oh yeah, I wept reading this one. Well done. This was so beautiful. Merry Christmas and Happy Hearthswarming. Thank you so much for this.
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And "Crazyhorn" Light Surge? Perhaps a "Crazy Legs" Elroy Hirsch reference?
Well, Clearly your harrowing drive out to Ohio was worth it for providing the inspiration for this gem! I tend to love your Rarity stories… she’s such a great character to use when examining the little injustices that wound the soul, wrapped up in both drama and dignity while suffering (and generating) the absurd. Her performance art piece in the cell was perfect.
It was a treat to see more of the Belle family dynamics and a well earned win in the end!
Although I question whether the daughters will be allowed to attend future Livery events…
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They can't not let them when it's their dad, can they?
A town named "Porklock" raises some uncomfortable questions given how pigs are sapient in this setting, albeit unable to care for themselves on a societal level.
There's something else Rarity could share with Rainbow Dash: The desire for immortality through legacy.
Ah, sibling bonding.
Sweetie's realization in the Legendarium has some of the most chilling lines I've seen come out of her mouth in any story. Kudos there.
I can think of no better representation of ugly truth triumphing over pretty narratives.
... Oh. Speaking of ugly truth, the scene with Sturm was devastatingly well executed.
And Cheerilee felt herself smile without knowing why.
I have to love how Rarity knows the Canterlot PD well enough to have them on her Hearth's Warming list. (Well, the parts of it that don't harass ponies for picking up loose change.)
Outstanding work from start to finish. It was exactly long as it needed to be, and a brilliant mirror to reality. Thank you for it.
"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgement. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so." - Anton Ego
Wonderful story from start to finish. Merry Christmas, Estee.
And since Hottake will have to personally speak to the prosecutor's office, I rather like my odds...
Well, they'll have to wire his jaw back together first. And he's going to be talking a little high-pitched for a few weeks, so....
What I find annoying (and true to life) is the absence of any memorial to the price paid for things. That's probably another reason they don't like Celestia.....she probably wants a memorial wall.
Thank you for the story, it was really fun and a nice look into the Bell family. I hope we will get to see more of those with Rarity father, maybe even at a game.
As for Rarity beating the crap out of Hottake, she might not had her trusty needles kit with her but I picture the buffet table beside them had plenty of hors d'oeuvre with pointy toothpicks in them.
Hawt damn, this was a good one. :)
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theres not much of a downside there in general. Admittedly it does make taking his statement harder.
There are so many smal soft moments that I cherish, the understated declarations of love (that does not involve murder).
This is my favorite I think.
I now have a question. Which sports are popular in Protocera? Does the dominance instinct get in the way?
Stuff like this also makes me look forward to how Rarity's friendship with Dash will develop over time, because there are things she understands about the athlete's mindset that none of the others do.
I see your Ohio trip was inspirational, if not very restful. An excellent story, as always. I don't have any interest in hoof... football, but my dad played it, almost professionally, until his knee gave way and all of the college offers magically disappeared while he was in surgery and hospitalized and...yeah. I think I'm biased against it, now that I think about it. Very biased against it. Regardless, I enjoyed this story very much.
"There wasn't really any shared tastes in books, music"
"There weren't really any shared tastes in books, music"?
"three layers of hood fringedutifully bobbed"
"three layers of hood fringe dutifully bobbed"?
"dismissed. 'Lifestyle'. Whatever that is"
"dismissed. "'Lifestyle'. Whatever that is"?
"but having the Princess steer Sun and Moon around every arena for three decades had done wonders for advancements in artificial lighting"
Oh, wow, that's some fine control over the Sun- and Moonlight, it sounds like; I don't recall if we've previously heard she had that much.
"and then it stayed here for what felt like"
"and then it stayed there for what felt like"?
"sketches of the greats: Sweetie figured on"
"sketches of the greats; Sweetie figured on"?
""Eleven moons," he said. "You know the date. Just... wait.""
Oh, thirteen moons to a year? Interesting. I don't recall whether we'd learned that before, either. (Sorry if I'm just forgetting.)
And once again, Estee, I believe your great gift with the (metaphorical) pen was on fine display here; thank you for writing.
(Oh, though I do wonder why the rate of induction seems to have been so low, comparing the number of ponies in the Legendarium with the length of the sport's history... I was wondering if that was going to be a plot point, but as it seems to have turned out not to be, I'm still curious.)
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I hope the hospital refuses to give him sedatives, because real stallions like him can endure the pain.
'and the other, while often considered attractive, was generally thought to be one enchanted sewing device accident away from becoming a supervillain. The device itself was potentially optional.'
And she is on a first name basis with the Canterlot Police and has a Cell dedicated to herself in said jail. Methinks future Villian Rarity will be a story in the future.
Ok that was incredibly powerful. Thank you for this view into their lives.
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A favorite line. I recall reading it before, and it's so very Rarity.
Lovely story, Estee. Thank you as always.
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I actually commissioned a blog post from Estee once about the state of sports in their version of Equestria and other nations. Protocera has what's basically a non-lethal version of the Hunger Games.
This, in my opinion, is the heart of the story, the realization that something's not right in the Livery. The victories, the champions, the cheering, all of it's missing something, something important.
The supporting cast is missing.
What it took to achieve victory is sidelined or ignored.
And what happens after victory is silenced.
Then you look in the wings, and you see it all, and it's too horrifying to look at; the victories are built with agony, the champions are corpses, the cheering can barely cover up the screaming of the dying, the whitewash crumbles away to reveal the tomb. The Livery is a Thin Place, overburdened with suffering, pulling ponies in and dragging them down like a black hole. The irony of this story is that Rarity's father is the real winner, escaping the Livery's clutches before it can break him like it did Sturm. And Sturm's reveal... Sturm's reveal was perfect, the story in a nutshell; we want to shout at the image, in this case the one the Belle girls (who, BTW, incredible characterization of them) have conjured up, but then we see the reality behind the image and our shouts die in our throats.
In my opinion, the critic near the end is actually a bit of a distraction from this theme, from what I would argue is the main thing the rest of the story is telling us; the Belle girls shouldn't be trying to get their father into the Livery, they should be trying to keep him out of it. The critic is a vain malcontent; the Livery, as a symbol of the system which has broken so many bodies and souls over the centuries, is the real monster of the story. The bronze statues in the Legendarium are its anglerfish's light, drawing ponies in right before the jaws snap around them and swallow them whole. The Belle sisters' father realizes this, even if his daughters don't seem to (fully); like Sturm said, he is the lucky one.
This reminds me of Keith Olbermann and his ESPN show (the 2010s one), although he was more furious with the Baseball Hall of Fame than the Football one.
Thinking about Rarity's complaints about the lack of focus on the dark side of the sport.
IRL, just about every pro sport except maybe darts has problems with performance enhancing drugs & has for decades. Some players die from them.. I doubt ANY of them have a section in their Hall Of Fame commemorating it.
No sport talks about refs blowing calls, fan heckling, fans rioting, deliberately injuring players on other teams, point shaving, gambling, what happens to players after they age out, or ANYTHING negative, really.
& as to grouping years by "who's the Commissionaire", IMO it's as valid a way to do it as any.
That said, it's a good story. Have an upvote
The wings at the end made my heart jump.
You probably remember how much I love critics.
Great story.
Sci-fi writer Poul Anderson said that one of the best things about being a sci-fi writer was that he usually avoided the bad parts of being famous (being mobbed in public etc.) but whenever he wanted the fame he could just go to a sci-fi convention.
This is epic
And, you know, who's to say this little snaffu won't be in the newspapers, including a well-timed photograph?
Of two daughters of a wronged hoofball player defending his honor against a rather famous critic that all the fans hate? 
Who dragged multiple noble player's names through the mud in front of press, players, and fellow critics alike? 
Can't imagine what would happen if any of that gossip got out......dangit, they won't lemme post Grinch!Dash on here >.<
👍
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Thank you.
You know how hot sauce bottles come marked with how hot they are? Estee's stories should come marked with how many feelings they contain.
Just ask Walter" Wally" Pipp "What can happen if you don't?"
Because even immortal Sun-controlling alicorns can't resist the urge to curl up under the covers on a cold winter's morning.
As a Broncos fan, I know the history of our first ugly uniforms, and yes, the socks burned rather well.