Ancient Greece: A land of gods, heroes, monsters... and very few roles for women beyond wife and housekeeper.
In other words, it's a pretty terrible place and time for a renegade student of Princess Celestia to find herself. But Sunset Shimmer is nothing if not determined and resourceful. She will bend this world to her will.
That's the plan, anyway. Given how the heliocentric model is still a few millennia away from wide acceptance, maybe she can settle for finding happiness.
Winner of the Sunset x Villain Period Piece contest.
Chapters (2)
Heliocentricity reference!
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That age difference!
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Gaea Everfree and Wallflower references and stuff! Cool!
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Typo?
laurel leaves were Apollo dwelt > laurel leaves where Apollo dwelt [?]
Titles working together for laughs! And the Two Body Problem of Academia!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-body_problem_(career)
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/two-body-problem
If I was Sunset, I'd not only ask for royalties, but also sue for defamation, because they so badly twisted and mistold the story that it barely resembled the true version anymore. Heck, I'm sure Hades would love to get in on that suit too.
If I had a nickle for every time Sunset got involved with a Wallygod, I would have two nickles. Which isn't much but it's weird that it happened twice.
Also, funny you published this the day I plan to finally release the next chapter of Goddess.
This was absolutely lovely tale. I loved every sentence and how the characters are so themselves, even after millennia of years. Great job and much thank yous for the shot out!
Now THIS is a headcanon!
Oh! ANOTHER good headcanon about how a canon character 'prays.'
I also think, in the sense of a gymnast sticking the landing, you really stuck the ending there. đź‘Ť
Delightful, from start to finish.
Love it, would also love a chapter that was a myriad of snippets of their shenanigans over the millennia, culminating with their mandated three encounters with AK Yerlling. Wouldn't fit the story itself, but it'd be wonderful.
Absolutely delightful, both the great chemistry between Sunset and Wallflower here and the excellent payoff to the whole thing.
Hmm... vast primal forest to the north of Greece, dwelling place of strange and mythical things... I don't suppose that Sunset wandered her way into the Hercynia Silva? There were supposed to be unicorns living in there, too, at least according to Caesar...
Hah! I like this. Clever.
A fun little story, overall.
I’m not a big one for widely removed alternate-universe tales, but this story really resonated with me—likely because it does such a good job of grounding the various mythologies and legends, as well as presenting a delightfully plausible academic “reconstruction” of figures I could imagine really existing in the collective human psyche.
This was a nice little story. Bravo. Also, that cover image is REALLY cute.
Generally believed in only by a Lunatic Fringe, but we all know they're out there.
Wow! I love your depiction of Ancient Greece and its (unfortunate) social structure. Truly a unique setting for Sunset.
But nothing prepared me for Wallflower being a bored Earth god looking for a friend. That take was phenomenally well done!
So wait. Did Wally and Sunset switch places over who got to be the steed or not?
Could Sunset and Wallflower use magic to prove their identity...just to get those sweet royalties. As well as sue for any misrepresentations?
I personally think that would be a great sequel idea.
Thank you for this lovely take on Sunset/Wallflower. It had a fresh setting with an organically grown relationship. (Get it?)
Wallflower? Not louloĂşdi ToĂchou? Or maybe Erysimum?
So, like this but maybe less bling?
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt5474644/mediaviewer/rm1507212544
I'm perplexed by this premise, but intrigued.
In the opening paragraph!
I see exactly what you did and turned that reference upside-down, and I have to stop reading for a bit because I'm all distracted and laughing too hard!
11607456
Yes. Definitely what I was going for. Very astute of you.
11607961
Celestia as Apollo's general-purpose handmaiden was the initial concept that I leveraged into something for this contest prompt, and when I saw the opportunity for that particular play on words, I couldn't resist.
11607276
The Green Rider never appeared in Hercules; she had her own film... though it wasn't any more accurate. (From what I hear, the thing that most bothered Hades about the movie was the complete exclusion of Persephone.)
11607305
Happy to provide it! And I have to amused by the serendipity of two "Sunset, friend of Wallygod" stories updating on the same day.
11607310 11607457
I do still prefer the idea of magical pigment proteins explaining EqG's amazing technicolor population, but hey, the chromelanin-coding genes had to get there somehow.
And yes, Dr. Yearling has some... interesting relationships with various gods. She's also meant to serve as a contrast to Celestia.
Glad to hear the ending worked. The original plan was a mocked-up Wikipedia article, but I couldn't strike the right balance between their editorial standards and the dramatic pacing suitable for a brief epilogue. (I thought about having Sunset and Wallflower vandalize the article, but it still didn't feel right.)
11607351
Worth thinking about for a sequel, though I make no guarantees there. (Heck, having them run into the sirens at some point could be fun. Again, not saying it'll happen, but it's food for thought.)
11607383
Given how you edit The Goddess of Empathy, that means more than usual. Thanks.
11607474
"I don't usually like X, but..." comments are some of my favorites. Glad to hear this worked for you as well as it did.
11607592
Sadly, the artist appears to have been inactive for several years now. Still, link to the source is available on mouseover.
11607596
Sadly lost to history is the Red Rider's carbine action, 200-shot, range-model air rifle, with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time.
11607794
Hey, after that many centuries of being the steed, can you blame Sunset for wanting to mix things up a little?
11607871
Gaea Everfree was the intended reference, yes. Also, assume all names have been localized for your (and my) convenience. After all, even "Celestia" has Latin roots.
I love this story! Any odds of a sequel or some such? I'd read it to pieces.
11607961
I don't get it.
This is excellent. Thank goodness Sunset didn't need to kill a giant blade-proof lion or anything to get this far.
liked and favourited, now to read and affirm my choice to do so.
Edit:
And yes, completely warranted, as expected.
You absolute madman, this is so good
Well done!
Oh my God, this is a straight-up tease to something awesome
You've done it again, my friend. I loved all of it: character interactions, details of the setting, taking a look at Human!Celestia and her relationship with Apollo as his priestess/oracle. This is an amazing piece that I hope you revisit again one day, but I won't force your hand (or muse).
Though I feel the need to ask, why was Sunset's horn broken in one frame?
Sunset and Wallflower as immortal beings from Greek Mythology... YES PLEASE!
Also, having A.K. Yearling as an instructor is hilarious. It would be even more hilarious if, due to some terrible luck on her part, she gets Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Sci-Twi as her students one day. She would not know peace every Mondy-through-Friday.
Man. I wish this was part of a series.
11608341
"The wine-dark sea" is one of the stock verbal phrases that gets used over and over again in Homer's Iliad and Odessy.
I'm always both impressed by and envious of how you manage to be this consistently clever, goddamn.
staring
verb is missing here.
The ending was great, but for a moment, I couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like had Celestia been the professor instead? Maybe as a reincarnation, or perhaps granted immortality by Apollo. Would she see Sunset and Wallflower, and get just an inkling that she had known them? A sense of deJa'vu?
Wallflower be like:
Yearling be like:
11608712
Almost certainly due to simple aging and the ravages of time. Consider what almost any ancient statuary looks like after centuries or millennia of wear. A relatively long, thin projection like a unicorn’s alicorn would be very likely to break off at some point.
Sunset is trying to make money from her story!!!!! Haha
So they got bored and went to a seminar on their own folklore. Immortals need more hobbies.
This was fun.
As a fan of both Greek history and mythology, I thought you did a great job here. The handling of Wallflower was...interesting. Yes, that's the word I'll use.
OK, so I had a quick thought on the inevitable sequel that the ending encourages:
There's some Ancient Greek artifact that has to be deactivated before it destroys the world. Sunset and Gaia hire Daring to do it, "because if powers got involved it would wake up Zeus. And nobody wants to wake up Zeus." To make things interesting, both Sunset and Gaia decide to play as mortals for the duration of the expedition. And Daring has to put up with their snarking and making passes at each other constantly. Eventually Gaia "dies", which means she is in time out. And Daring and Sunset get to talking. And maybe they tell each other something that changes their perspectives a bit. Like a despairing Daring is told that she has a good chance at immortality, to judge by several other adventurers of old that are still remembered today. And Sunset learns...drat. I forgot that part. Something, something, friendship, probably.