This story is a sequel to Swimming Lessons
Canterlot. The capital city of the great nation of Equestria. It had seen many a disaster over the centuries. But once, many years before Tirek, before Queen Chrysalis, Discord, before even Nightmare Moon, it faced a disaster unlike any other. One that threatened to topple the crown itself by the most unconventional means.
This is the story of The Great Tabloid Disaster.
A sequel to Swimming Lessons, and another side story in the A Tale of Two Suns continuity.
Cover art graciously done by Uz Naimat. Proofreading done, as usual, by Setokaiva.
ATOTS stories have their own TV Tropes page, so feel free to flesh that out.
07/18/23: Popular Box and Feature Box on the first day! O___O
Chapters (4)
I never would’ve believed it, if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.
That's a long coming sequel hehe, looking great!
HELP this first chapter is so funny
Ooh, I am so looking forward to this!
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Thank you. And thank you for all the faves on my stories and adding them to bookshelves. You...didn’t read all the ATOTS stuff in one day, did you? O___O
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no problem! theyre really good stories. also uhmm.... no comment 😄
in all seriousness, i read "swimming lessons" months ago but somehow forgot to save it. i did read ATOTS book 1 throughout today though. great story btw i loved the characterization, especially with celestia and her jealousy over twilight becoming more important in sunset's life than her. very compelling stuff
which to loop this comment around to the posted story, is something i love about this first chapter. there arent a lot of things that could genuinely bother a millennium old princess-goddess. so losing her teeth/having the Gummy-ness come out to a people that has only ever seen celestia has a statue of perfection, is pretty much the only situation to put her in that could publicly freak her out and still make sense. also its hilarious
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No comment, huh? XD I just hope you didn’t strain your eyeballs. I’ve done that on a reading spree.
And trust me, if you think the situation is rough now...it’s going to get much worse.
HEEELP TELLING CELESTIA THAT SHES A WORST LIAR THAN A CHILD... i wouldnt recover. being pony princess is indeed pain
I love everything about this.
The best part was Sunset. I love the fact that sheʼs capable of extremely powerful magic, yet is unable to pronounce words like “elite” and “professional”. And I freaking love this little call forward to Sunsetʼs future as a villain:
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Thank you. I just personally loved the idea that Sunset was an adorable little Destructo Child. XD
You know, When I saw Jade going through Sunset's hair, I'll admit I was a tad suspicious that she would take Sunset's hair for a DNA test (somehow), to see if she and Celestia were related. Glad to know it seems Jade Comb at least seems faithful enough to Celestia.
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Huh. You know, I don’t think that possibility occurred to me in all the years I tinkered with this on and off. I mean, I’m not going to use it since I’ve basically planned everything out, but still, an interesting alternative.
all of celestia's schemes blowing up in her face is hilarious. but funniest of all is agent furlong's complete and utter failure. this man got caught in an austin powers skit. this man got beat up by the fucking batmare in a maid costume. pony james bond's most wily move yet was getting tar and feathered and landing straight into a
manuregarbage cart. this man... is not getting a promotionbut what strikes me most is that celestia sicced the PONY FBI ON A TABLOID JOURNALIST. she is fully abusing her power as an absolute monarch and committing very not constitutional acts (if ponies even have a constitution. is equestria a constitutional democracy? does celestia have a prime minister?) and i love it. of course im in her head and i fully understand how much this is distressing her and how out of hand (hoof?) the situation is getting. esp since it seems the average equestrian is as anxious as a real life horse and celestia has to play horse-whisperer every day to keep her little ponies from working themselves into a fearful froth. but i dont think history will vindicate her. god bless her soul
Those journalists are crafty indeed! Come on Tia! Up your game! Show them who the chess grandmaster is!
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To be fair, it wasn’t all planning. Some of it was just The Battle Maid of Canterlot.
All hail the Battle Maid.
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Xanatos? The Seventh Doctor? Darkseid? Who?
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Genuinely funny stuff! And you're making the press a good villain that actually affects Celestia. I've stopped reading stories on here because their idea of evil tabloids comes from Princess Diana
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Thank you. Maybe the difference is that I don’t entirely know what you mean by that. I mean, I know about what happened to Princess Diana in the end, with the paparazzi and all, but as far as any and all nonsense before that, I’ve just never ended up learning about it, so I can’t use it as a direct frame of reference.
its clear that the entire universe is conspiring against celestia at this point. horrifying...
Was that a Get Smart reference? I knew I liked you.
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Yup! I saw reruns of the series WAAAAAAAAY back when I was little, so I knew it existed in that vague, half-remembered way. Got the series on DVD for my mom last year. Thought she’d like it. She didn’t, but I kept the set anyway. Watched some of it to help get ideas for this chapter. XD
Honestly, I wasn’t sure anybody would get that reference. Kudos.
I hate Tattle Tale...
Forget the dungeon, that amoral, unethical, greedy piece of scum and filth deserves to rot in Tartarus for how utterly depraved he is...
Neither Celestia nor Sunset deserve his despicable levels of treachery.
I really hope Lady Luck stops shining on him very soon and sweet, painful karma ensues.
No, no, no. Stars dammit it, no!
It was all going so well, and then... Piece of filth attacked Sunset. And for her, Celestiaʼs willing to do anything.
Not entirely sure how Celestiaʼs going to win this war now.
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I’m working on it! I’m working on it! Scribbles furiously
And I hope Sunset helps.
Just found this. Looking forward to more!
Hiya, Lupin. Any idea when this story will be updated?