Like a Princess

Mystic Sunrise

Mystic Sunrise #1 · Oct 13th, 2023 · 3 · ·

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Princesses don’t wear lab goggles or play in the mud, right?

Says who exactly?

(rhetorical question, I know. Can't help it).

Flamewarrior02

Flamewarrior02 #2 · Oct 13th, 2023 · 1 · ·

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Beautiful. Just beautiful.

Herald of Opera

Herald of Opera #3 · Oct 13th, 2023 · 1 · ·

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Princesses don’t wear lab goggles or play in the mud, right?

Princesses can do whatever they want and the rest of us will just have to deal with it. Sentences like this prove whoever's using them doesn't understand how monarchy works.

Nailah

Nailah #4 · Oct 13th, 2023 · 1 · ·

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“You are the Crown Princess, Zipp. You will receive the most state guests. You will have to have tea with them. And you must represent the State well with the way you have tea. Your mother would understand.”

Typical elite nobility fashion, using her mother, to try to get a Zipp to fit their mold of what a Princess should be. Princesses can be anything they want to be, and restricting them with all these rules, and forms of etiquettes, doesn't allow them to truly breathe.

Yeah. Yes. That’s what she would do. She would act a certain way. If it meant she would be a princess.

Denial. Zipp is trying to shove how they really feel, to fit into the mold that is expected of them, but Zipp cannot fit the most, because they are not the "standard" and therefore it forces Zipp to feel trapped and feels they have no other option then to begrudgingly follow the rules of social etiquette, when there's so much more to Zipp then just being a Princess.

(Being dead on the inside for too long takes a toll on the outside, after all.)

This part feels unnecessary. Having Zipp put flowers on the grave is enough, it sends your message loud and clear. I also am unsure why you are using ( ), whereas you could have Zipp think about the prime mistress and how she helped to Zipp to understand there was nothing wrong with them, all along. Redefining what it means to be a Princess.

Because if somepony forces you to not be yourself, there's no kinder way to put it. They've killed you on the inside.

I Get what you are going for here, but instead of just saying this to us the audience, this could have been a great moment for Zipp to have inner thoughts about everything they had learnt, and how it helped redefine to them, what it truly means to be Zipp, and not what every pony else expects of them.

A really, nice nuanced look into Royalty, Etiquettes, and what it truly means to be yourself despite the expectations of others. I really enjoyed this story, and can definitely relate to this piece in more than one way, thank you for writing it.

Axolotl222

Axolotl222 #5 · Oct 13th, 2023 · 1 · ·

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As someone who was never 100% comfortable when it comes to things like gender norms, this hit me right in the feels. I'd like to thank you for writing this and offer you an orange: derpicdn.net/img/2021/1/7/2525347/large.jpg

Blewfire

Blewfire #6 · Oct 13th, 2023 · 1 · ·

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Very nice, I enjoyed reading this a lot.

Scyphi

Scyphi #7 · Oct 14th, 2023 · · ·

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Mrs. Mistral said, “It’s not ladylike to ask for so much sugar.”

In other words, it's not "ladylike" to ask for what you actually want. I see what you're really saying here, Mrs. Mistral.

...or stirring the tea in the wrong direction.

That's a thing?

*Googles it real quick*

Huh! It is a thing! Apparently what you add to it doesn't mix right otherwise.

...as you might've guessed by now, I don't drink much tea myself. I do drink hot chocolate though, so now I'm wondering if I should apply this to that too...might be worth an experiment...

She grabbed Zipp by the shoulders, with surprising force for a 70-year-old. “Then…tell them! Tell them what it means to be a princess. Redefine the word ‘Princess’. That’s what royals are so damn good at, am I right?”

Oh, that's what I was thinking from the very start.

It's a darn, darn shame it took until the poor mare was already about on her death bed before the both of them realized what was really the problem.

I really liked this story, an excellent character study on Zipp and somewhat, by extension, Haven (even if one doesn't see the portrayal as totally canonical), as well as an excellent and scathing commentary on just how foolish the stereotypes we assign to gender really is, something I've always felt rather strongly about. Honestly, one's gender shouldn't even play a role in it at all. I say forget the stereotypes...and just be you.

Boltstrike58

Boltstrike58 #8 · Oct 15th, 2023 · 1 · ·

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Poor Zipp.

Mica

Mica #9 · Oct 23rd, 2023 · 1 · ·

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11721596
I actually intended the stirring tea in wrong direction to be superfluous...had no idea it was actually a thing!

The Blue EM2

The Blue EM2 #10 · Oct 23rd, 2023 · 1 · ·

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I don't know why it took me so long to get round to reading this, but once again you knocked it out of the park. You write Zipp brilliantly, and I could easily imagine this being a cut portion of the film's script.

Zipp follows in a long line of tomboyish princesses or those skilled in fields not often associated with the job. Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth II) was a qualified mechanic, and was regularly repairing vehicle engines and changing tires on vehicles owned by the Royal Family well into her seventies.

Ghost Mike