Forget not that I am a derp.
The earth melts. The skies darken. Celestia has tired of being the nice princess, and the shadow of the sun has overtaken her.
To Prince Blueblood's immense regret, he can't leave this one to Sparkle and company.
Rated Teen for mild cursing and alcohol references. Honorable Mention in the 2023 Everfree Northwest Iron Author competition. Prompts were: Vexing Volcanism/Verdant Vegetable/Vibrant Vestigial
Original art by Adam Paquette.
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A most pleasant lunchtime read, sitting in the garden amongst the flowers of my luxuriously appointed…
Well that was certainly entertaining. Just a teensy bit of Flashman in there, I think?
Absolutely stunning as always. your take on Blueblood (No matter the situation) never fails to amuse.
I also double checked I was remembering correctly and indeed that is a lovely little snub to Daybreaker.
Bravo on the honourable mention too. You earned it. n_n
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Definitely felt a bit of Flashman in there, whether deliberate or otherwise.
Well, Celestia's earlier track record against major threats actually seems pretty good; the first defeats of Discord, Tirek, Chrysalis (debatably, the Changelings' history is really, really hard to figure out), Sombra, as well as Nightmare Moon. More recently, however, she has seemed to slip, partially because her responsibilities as a princess prevent her from fully committing herself to serving as a warrior; yes, she might have been able to tap her connection to the Sun to gain an advantage against Chrysalis, but her little ponies were nearby: if she brought the full might of the Sun to bear, she might hurt them, and Celestia strikes me as the kind of monarch who would be haunted by the thought of hurting their subjects. And, on a more mundane level, the monarchy relies on the monarch actually being present, either symbolically or physically, in order to conduct business. Celestia could conceivably have joined Twilight in the Crystal Empire, but that would require her to either leave Luna for a time (after getting her back for the first time in a thousand years) or deprive the capitol of the monarch, potentially causing administrative difficulties (if a noble appeals a court case to the princess, it effectively goes on hiatus until she returns). Add in a dash of prophetic visions, proof of which we've seen with regards to Tirek, as well as what seems to be a fear of forcing her subjects to "love me and despair!", and Celestia's struggles become much more interesting; she wants to protect her little ponies, but without becoming either a military mother who only sees those they protect every Hearth's Warming or an overbearing paranoiac who tries to protect her charges from danger by making their choices for them, all while wondering whether the prophecies she attempts to follow are for good or ill. She is the Judging Sun, the Mother Princess, and the Far-Seeing Planner, but those roles conflict with each other; the Mother frets over those the Sun might be willing to accept as casualties or the Planner use as pawns, the Sun fumes at the Mother's overweening concern and the Planner's inflexibility, and the Planner muses on the Sun's imprudence and the Mother's short-term focus.
Of course, the queens of Canina are right, Celestia's responses to some of the more recent threats to Equestria are wanting, but that doesn't mean that she's a failure; any action that we take in this world of imperfection and contingency will have areas where it can be improved. What matters is that Celestia's willing to learn, and she does appear to be, even if the main thing she learns is just how capable Twilight is. But to those who call her a failure, or for her to step down, I have but one reply, a simple question; "Could you do better?" Discord is The Crawling Chaos, Sombra a warlord of devastating power and inventiveness, Chrysalis an enemy who you can never see coming, and in a magical world like Equestria, Tirek is basically a walking Armageddon. What can political leaders do to fight Ragnarok? I'm not saying Celestia's perfect, but I am saying she's one of the world's best shots, and will remain so until Twilight manages to grow into her role.
I don't know the exact rules of Iron Author, but I can't fathom how people are able to take unexpected prompts and craft coherent, logically plotted stories in less than a day. Unless you were channeling your stress into Blueblood's reaction, I don't see any signs of discomfort or worry in the structuring of this story.
Unless... do you need us to give you a hug and thank you for everything you've done on this site? Because we will, gosh darn it.
My favorite fic from my judging slate!
Most charming
Except that after Sombra II they knew they could do the rainbow thing without the elements. (Which they forgot for a while during the Last Showdown. Aside from some scattered genuinely good episodes, I still tend to loosely headcanon that most of seasons 8 and 9 were just a bad dream brought on by Twilight foolishly eating some of Trixie special Extra Spicy Neigh Orleans gumbo. [1])
[1] I rather like the fanon from the Lunaverse, in which Trixie is from Neigh Orleans and used to have a cajun Prench accent.
As a good small-r republican I generally disapprove of making random Ponies members of the Equestrian aristocracy, but given that she owns a musically themed transformer car, the Equestria Girls Vinyl is clearly fabulously wealthy[1], so I'll allow it.
A delightful piece of work, overall.
[1] Or a mad scientist, but there's no real evidence of that.
Like a coach with a .700 record who can't win the Super Bowl/World Series/etc.
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Might be another nod to early fanon, though I couldn't tell you exactly which story(is) explored the idea of a minor mobility Vincenza (AKA Vinyl) Scratch.
Really like this interpretation of Blueblood. He's still a jerk but he's not stupid, he knows that if Celestia is left the way she is, Equestria will fall and his Aunt will fall deeper down into her own dark thoughts when she'd eventually sober up on her own. Blue could have easily refused, said that somepony else should do it, but he was surprisingly a true noble stallion and preformed his duty with only a few gripes.
Fun little story.
I was amused.
And,
, one to many way?
And
, should there be a 'to' in there?
Very nice work, as usual.
I do believe that should be "far".
Oh, and while I do like "Canterhorn" as a name for the mountain, I once committed to text file a bit of headcanon that the mountain was originally called Canterloft, with the F being lost over time. Anyone who wants to steal this notion may decide for themselves how this fits into the timing of Canterlot growing from a mining town into a city, and Celestia transferring the seat of government there from the Castle of the Two Sisters after Luna's banishment.
Overall, I can tell that Blueblood is a pony of the herd.
/s :)
Twilight has Blueblood's number though
Blueblood would definitely give Platinum a run for her money.
Surprisingly self aware there Bluey
Chrysalis would love the new look. Not so much the lava, but definitely the look.
I was wondering why this was referenced earlier. Nice :)
I very much believe that Luna woke up earlier, took a look around, sighed, grumped and then went back to bed for another two hours. Only been awake for 10 minutes indeed.
Now this was amazing! I love stories that give Blueblood some character and not only did you do that but you also took inspiration from one of my favorite series on this site, Commissar Blueblood! This was well done and very impressive with those random prompts you had to work with.
If all the other nations think you're incompetent it's not surprising if you lose it. Celestia clearly always has to hold back from becoming Daybreaker.
Excellent work! The narration was brilliant, the characters wonderfully realized (always nice to see Blueblood as an actual character and not a straw pony), and the resolution was excellent.
Nice way to start my day. Anyone else only know "nepenthe" from Poe's "The Raven"?
"I hadn't even been able to scare up a few sniveling lickspittles, if you can believe it!"
Quite liked this take on Blueblood.
he's so cynical and dismissive but also he behaves respectfully to everyone, it's weird
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Hey that's literally me
edit: I'm also nice
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The Flashman comes by secondhand, arguably third. Raleigh's Blueblood owes a lot to both Flashman and his Warhammer 40K counterpart Ciaphas Cain.
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Celestia is a complex figure both in and out of universe, yes. The political realities of the world bind her in a very uncomfortable position, to say nothing of the narrative necessity of Twilight and company being the ones to resolve the grand crises. But she still carried the world far enough to produce a plucky band of adventurers who had a shot at addressing those problems. She's due more than a little gratitude.
(Side note on the queens of Canina: I was tempted to use a much more rude if technically accurate term for them. As Arfus Menethil famously proclaimed in the kindgdom's earliest days, there must always be a Bich Queen.
)
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That said, the story's been expanded and polished beyond the original entry, where I actually ran out of time while writing the dialogue attribution and you can still see some of the parenthetical mood notes. That said, while I appreciate your concern, I enjoy the challenge of Iron Author. It's one of Everfree Northwest's biggest draws for me.
Truth be told, Desperate Push did get her name with two minutes left on the clock.
(Note to the future: The entries get cleaned out every year. I make no guarantee about what story that link will go to at or after September 2024.)
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Still flattered to hear it.
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This is meant to be set around Season 6 or 7, which is why Twilight finds the idea of being Celestia's replacement so shocking. Possibly just after the events of the movie. Certainly before the School of Friendship was so much as a proposal on Mayor Mare's desk.
As for ennobled Vinyl, it was just one of those ideas that came up as I was writing the entry, and I literally did not have time to question it.
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Even in the magical land of Equestria, you can do everything right and still fail. And be subject to a thousand armchair coaches explaining everything you should have done with the benefits of hindsight and not understanding how your job actually works.
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As Noblesse Applige shows, I appreciate a Blueblood with more depth than the average mud puddle. Between Raleigh's take on him and the shockingly capable diplomat from the IDW comics, I had a wealth of concepts to draw on. It's a lot of fun to work with a viewpoint so different from any of the Mane Six, yet still ultimately devoted to the betterment of the nation.
Plus, I love writing snarky characters in the privacy of their own mind. That's its own reward.
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Some days are better than others. Some get drowned in tea and cake frosting, because burning calories is better than the alternative.
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Honestly? I got it from Final Fantasy Tactics A2. Same reason I made Wallflower a pitcher plant dryad (genus Nepenthes) in Burning Passion. Everything's a source of inspiration if you know how to look.
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It's hard to lick spittle when the castle floors are hot enough to fry an egg.
An improvement from when the changelings attacked. Luna must be the heaviest sleeper in Equestria.
Also, this is my favorite kind of Blueblood. I think this lines defines it perfectly:
That was a good story.
"This is meant to be set around Season 6 or 7, which is why Twilight finds the idea of being Celestia's replacement so shocking. Possibly just after the events of the movie. Certainly before the School of Friendship was so much as a proposal on Mayor Mare's desk."
I would have sworn Blueblood said something about a second coming of Sombra. So much for my reading comprehension skills.
I think I would have preferred this if Blueblood had successfully talked her down with a mix of snark and heartfelt love, rather than merely been a gopher for the others. I'm familiar with Blueblood: Hero of Equestria mentioned in the author's notes, but at first this was actually reminding me of a more comedic version of Glory, which is in my opinion one of the top three Blueblood stories ever written.
Blueblood seems like one who would appreciate the value of one's "place" in society, and it wouldn't be any stretch for him as someone used to being better than others, to simply accept that Celestia is fundamentally more important than he is. And to then share that with her, genuinely. Tell her that she was the most important pony anywhere, and if she truly wished to destroy everything, then what could he do but bow his head and accept that?
Mix that with a bit of genuine love, show his willingness to accept the death of everyone and everything...because after all she is the one who through moving the sun allows All Life To Exist. If anyone could claim the right to destroy everything, it would be her, yes?
Telling her that, bowing his head and accepting the death of himself and everything and everyone at her hooves, and yet still being able to say I love you...
...that might have been a meaningful and moving way to bring her back.
Once again, FOME, you rock the house!
Crikey! You almost expect to hear Hugh Laurie's voice narrating this.
I like this version of Blueblood. He's still a stuck-up jerk I might still want to punch sometimes and I probably wouldn't ever invite him to hang out, but there's more to him than that and he's not all bad.
Also, Luna just might be the deepest sleeper ever
I always love seeing Blueblood get character, and this was a treat. Just the right mix of sass, arrogance, and actual good intentions to make him feel true to what we know while still being a pony with his heart in the right place.
I love a competent yet sassy Blueblood. And this Blueblood was Sass-Say. Plus there was all this good writing and stuff.
Blueblood makes a damn good Commussar Cain.
Jolly good show, old man!
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Some of your specifics don't work for me. Mostly, I can't reconcile Blueblood with that level of selflessness or love, and it would not sit right with me if Celestia were healed on realizing that Blueblood had the kind of love for her that charismatic totalitarians have from their minions. But I think you're onto something with the general idea that the ending would have more power if some less-harmful aspect of Blueblood's eccentricity were the trigger for or source of Celestia's recovery, rather than him being just a Trojan horse.