Prince Blueblood dislikes being secret agent Double-O-Zeta, but since no pony does it better, the princesses won't let him quit. Trailing the mad unicorn Green Briar to Ponyville, though, Blueblood runs into Rainbow Dash, already investigating the odd new pony in the area. She resents this jerkwad of a prince suddenly butting in, and when circumstances force the two to work together, the unexpected feelings they arouse in each other might prove more dangerous than anything Green Briar has planned.
Inspired by TAW's Shipping Contest and finished with much thanks to Casca on mlpchan's /fic/ board, Aquillo and cheeze sauce over at Saltblock, and Bad Horse, Cloudy Skies and Skywriter here at FiMFiction. The adventure continues as well in the second Clandestine Corps adventure, Piefall!
As a point of useless information:
The ancient Greeks used the letters as their number system, too, with a couple modifications. And the letter "zeta" was their number "seven."
Mike
Did you just make Prince Blueblood James Bond?!
i82.photobucket.com/albums/j257/dire_geno/1230884668192.gif
Blueblood as the lead, and shipped with Rainbow Dash? Okay, I'll bite.
This may well be both unique, and entertaining!
This is why it pays to watch the Dog. Your brilliant writing drives me to sweet despair. I like the idea that Luna sees something of herself in Blueblood, and the recasting of Blueblood as competent but empty. Might we even see some character growth?
(I would prefer that to have been broken in two chapters, because fimfiction doesn't have bookmarks - I need to read chapters all the way to the end once I've clicked on them and they're marked as read. Didn't really have time to read 8000 words right now.)
"I would no such thing," => "I would do no such thing,"
Another James Bond crossover
me like it
BlueDash ship? All ships must sail, faved for later.
I know that a story is promising when the first paragraph makes me snort and laugh out loud.
Having read this first bit - fantastic! I'm only sorry I haven't read your stories before now.
1. Well-characterized, Goddess of the NIght is well-characterized.
2. Chives doesn't rhyme with Jeeves. Minus 2 house points.
3. Coal Porter? I see what you did there.
4. MOAR!
Okay, one chapter in... And I'm VERY interested in seeing where you go with the characters. +1 fave, +1 upvote
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I strongly recommend Half the Day is Night.
Excellent idea!
I have to admit that I didn't think much of the set up (and the pairing) going in, but in a little less than 9k words you've made me a believer.
Bond's personality meshes very well with Blueblood's, not to mention how well the setting in which Bond moves matches to the air of nobility around Canterlot and the princesses. Sort of like MI6 without the bureaucracy.
Luna as M was a surprise but much more fitting than Celestia, I have to agree, after her scene as top brass. That was awesome! It would be great if you gave a bit more development to Hyacinth in the future; while Moneypenny wasn't any major character in the Bond universe, she does save James' bacon more than once with the powers that be. On that note, will we get to meet Q's stand in? Who knows... Twilight might very well get roped into the role in the future :P I get the feeling she'd do great as a mad scientist.
One thing I liked a lot is how you've managed to wrap Bond's savoir faire around Blueblood's trademark obnoxiousness and make it work. That doesn't look easy but it manages to keep Blueblood being Blueblood and still come across as a real Double 0 agent.
I like the idea of Rainbow as a pairing a lot (and not just because she's my favourite) because the counterpoint she'll make to Bluebloods noble ideals and refined Canterlot digs will be hilarious, but I don't quite see what you plan to do with her. She's shown physical skills well above the average pegasus, and while that in itself is par for the course with her almost every time she shows up, the amount of emphasis you've put on this fact feels like foreshadowing. Will she be tapped for a double 0 agent? Those Wonderbolts can't just be stunt poines after all, that'd be a criminal waste of talent :P
I also loved how you've made Rainbow just be happy. So often is she portrayed as a tragic figure putting a good face on to cover up some great tragedy (real or imagined) that I've felt for a long time that such a thing doesn't do justice to the character we're shown in the show. Please keep her like that! Especially because I agree with Luna, Blueblood sounds so cynical and is so brazen in his affectations (no matter how true some of the boasts he makes may be) that to have him as a sort of warped mirror for Rainbow can only help her curb her natural boastfulness; not to mention it's bound to put some fun in Blueblood's life that does not necessarily imply property damage.
Great job! Looking forward to more of this!
Im looking forward to this, always been a 007 fan and its very uncommon to find a blueblood story not showing him as an a complete arse.
Well whaddya know! I think this story already has a soundtrack!
That was pretty entertaining.
Very interesting, I look forward to future chapters. I have a couple issues; the flow at the start seems a bit off, but smoothes out nicely once we get to Luna. The other is the seemingly random contractions from Dash, the couple you have are out of place with the rest of her speech.
Dammit! Moar! Please!
OH YES!
Now I can't wait for Rarity's face when she sees RD and Blueblood.
My only regret: No Bond-cars.
Oh yeah! Very much enjoying this. Looking forward to more.
Please keep writing, I'll keep reading!
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Sorry about:
The chapter lengths, but I could only come up with 4 ponified James Bond titles, so using one for the overall story left with me with three to use for the chapters. So they each need to be about 8,000 words, I figure, to get the whole thing told. If I can keep my usual pace, chapter 2, Octopony, should appear on or about Nov. 14th, and chapter 3, Thunderbow, on or about Nov. 26th.
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I hafta admit that I've never thought of myself as a James Bond fan. And yet, as soon as the phrase, "The names's Blueblood. Prince Blueblood" popped into my head, that was it. No turning back!
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At this point, this is a stand-alone story, and all the action for the rest of it takes place in Ponyville and the Everfree Forest. So alas, no more scenes with Hyacinth nor do we get to meet Q, though Blueblood does give her a passing thought early in chapter 1 as "that unkempt little minion of Aunt Celestia's" who showed him how to deploy his hang glider. And thank you for your comments on the way I'm writing Dashie. One of the things that makes FiM such a special show for me is the way the characters actually love the work that they do. It may stress them out and sometimes drive them crazy, but a big part of their core happiness comes from having jobs they enjoy and believe in.
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Doesn't "Coal Porter" get me those 2 points back? No? Ah, well...
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I'll give the contractions a look. I spend my whole previous story, An Infinite Number of Pinkies, trying to us contractions as a way of delineating the various narrative levels, so I might still have some of that residue still floating around in my brain.
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More is on its way! And yes, I'm really looking forward to writing the Rarity scene in chapter 3!
Mike
This Blueblood. I like it. ANOTHER!! Okay, all done with overused memes. Anyway, I have become rather fond of Blueblood lately, mainly due to InsertAuthorHere, and I like seeing him in a protagonist role instead of an antagonist.
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Thunderbow. The pun has been DOUBLED! Ok, so I lied about overused memes.
Look for:
Act III, "Thunderbow," on or about Monday, Nov. 26th!
Mike
Ohoho, he's devious! We're having fun alright!
Damn!!! This guy is just......damn
This got a lot more interesting.
Well this chapter upped the stakes quite thoroughly. Really looking forward to the next chapter.
Yaaay! *waits eagerly
I think this is my favorite fan-depiction of Blueblood; just as insufferable as in the canon, yet with hidden layers, and yet furthermore, and this is important, equally insufferable in his hidden layers as well.
Also, Dash is best Bond Girl.
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I just hope:
The conclusion with have a sufficient number of explosions to be true to the source material.
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I'm a little chagrined by how easy I find it to write for Blueblood, actually. Might be it says something about me I'd rather went unspoken.
Mike
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In all honesty:
I have to admit that the music I've found myself humming all month while working on this--other than the standard James Bond opening stuff--has been the theme to the old British TV spy show "The Avengers."
Because Diana Rigg, who played Tracy Draco in the film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," played Emma Peel on the show. So there's at least a tenuous connection!
Mike
Princess Luna is best Bad Cop.
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Obviously Q would have to be Discord somehow.
And there it is!
A couple thousand more words than I expected, but, well, you can't have everything. 'Cause, I mean, where would you put it?
Mike
Interesting, I haven't read this yet but I am about to. I have an idea that seems to be somewhat similar to this (Rainbow Dash with a 007 swing to it) I may write it, may not... But i cant wait to dive into this!
sequel please.
Oh yeah. That was awesome!
Don't know what plans you have, if any, regarding this story, but I certainly wouldn't be adverse to a sequel.
Sequel or no, I am definitely watching for what you write next.
Hrm. You know, secret agent Blueblood is actually coming pretty close to replacing my headcanon right now. Another story, and you might even have it.
I look forward to seeing what you write next.
Absolutely spledifferous
Seeing that ship I was a bit afraid that this might end like "On Her Majesty's Secret Service".
Thank you for not doing that.
If you write a sequel, remember to put in "You know what the difference is between you and me? I make this look GOOD." That line may not be Bond, but it is sooo Rainbow Dash.
B-b-b-b-baby you just ain't seen nothin' yet...
Admittedly; I've never seen a James Bond movie, but if they're all as good as this I should go pick up a DVD pack from Walmart of somthin'. If you ever think up some grand sequel to this, I'll read it in a heart beat.
Excellent ending, and let me join the chorus begging for a sequel.
I trust there will be more
Well, the resolution for this was awesome indeed. The fight was very nice and engaging and the pacing of the last two chapters was very well handled.
It was an interesting twist that the real threat to Equestria was the storm resulting from Briar's actions rather than the unicorn himself. Blueblood being assertive in the face of what had happened to him was also a nice piece of character development, although I did end up feeling that he ought to have a little bit more time to showcase just why he's thought of as the best agent on the payroll.
Also on the department of things I didn't quite get, just how was the spell triggered in the end? Were they not out of its range when Blueblood freed them from their bonds?
Now, if I were a mature, sensible reader I'd say that ending where you did was the perfect place to do it as the story had already been told in full, all i's dotted and all t's crossed. That said, I will now proceed to my impersonation of a raving fanboy.
OMFG you need to make a sequel for this thing! It's great! What's going to happen with Dash in the service? Will she accept? What about Rarity? I don't care what she says, she sees Dash and Blueblood out one day and she's going to want a piece of that flank for herself or I'll eat my hat. If they get together and end up married, does that make Dash nobility? (poor, poor country).
Moar Luna! She had 3 pages in the story or thereabouts and they were great! She deserves more page :P
Great job man, looking forward to more of your work even if you decide to shelf this particular AU.
The heart-shaped cloud felt a touch heavy handed but that's the only tiny petty criticism I can level at this. Lovely as always. You perfectly captured BB and RD. Any chance you plan to do more in this universe?
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Thanks, folks!
Next up from me is actually a sequel to the story of mine that's so far proven to be the least popular here on FiMFiction, my nearly-clopless clopfic "Biology: A Romance." "History: A Romance Continued" should take up most of my Pony writing time for the rest of the year (and will likely have even less clop in it than "Romance" does), and after that I might just see about writing the Princess Cadance story that Skywriter accidentally suggested to me last month.
I'd definitely enjoy visiting this version of Blueblood and Dash again mostly to see how Blueblood and Ponyville react to each other. Gotta get a good maguffin for it, though: some fiend that needs vanquishing or some important object that needs securing. I always hafta start a story outline with "a person in a place with a problem," and in a spy story, well, that problem's always gotta be something world-shattering, doesn't it?
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As for the Octopony spell, Green Briar has a Plan A and a Plan B. Plan A uses Blueblood as its trigger, but Dash stops that one from happening. So Green Briar initiates Plan B, the one with the dagger, at the end of Act II, and casts the spell that way instead.
The chemistry between Luna and Blueblood really took me by surprise, I hafta admit, and pretty much forced me to add those two scenes between Celestia and Luna to dig a little more into what was going on there. That's always a fun part of the writing process, the way my brain sometimes does things without running them by me first...
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Dash punching a heart-shaped hole in the clouds was the very first image that came into my head once I had the basic outline of the story, to tell the truth, so I felt duty-bound to include it. I'm a sucker for that kinda happy-ending stuff...
Mike
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Evil guy wants to spark a war between the Diamond Dogs and the Griffins.
1691217 *laughs* I totally understand you there, it wasn't really meant to be a big deal just mior quirk. but it did make me groan and smile.
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Eh, I think the best part of writing is when you realize your characters do things without bothering to ask your permission. Then, when you stop you look at the page and realize there is no way you can delete all those pages you just wrote and still be telling a story about those characters.
In regards to your future prospects, I will read your other work and see what you come up with. If this is the bar for your quality, the rest must also be well written. I may not like other stories as much as this, but good writing deserves to be read!
As to needing a someone, somewhere with something of a problem? I totally agree. That it needs to be world shattering? Not necessarily... Unlike Bond, Blueblood is not only a spy but a noble in and of himself. Who's to say he doesn't stumble onto some uncomfortable secret some other noble doesn't want to make public? No world ending there, but there's a lot of potential for personal discomfort :P.
Okay, that was a crack paring to be true, but also a fun read. Well done. I don't see many authors portray ol' Blueblood sympathetically without trying to "fix" him.
Edit: this story also agreed with my head-canon, where the princesses are grooming the mane six for duty to the nation...
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Yeah, vanquish so we an watch!
Wait, that came out wrong...
Rainbow dash/Prince blueblood is a new one for me but I love it already since blueblood barely gets any pairings and when he does its with the great and annoying trixie.(no offence to trixie/blueblood shippers out there) This was a very good story.