"In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant." Well for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant.
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FancyFleur (Fancy Pants x Fleur de Lis)62 stories ·113 members
[10/10 The Equestrian Critics Society] [Featured on EQD] [Twilight's Library Approved]
Having a morning ritual allows a pony to prepare for the coming day with a minimum of thought, thus freeing their minds to contemplate everything from the past to the future... for some this is less than ideal.
Editing: Tundara and Flea Candy
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Huzza, it is here! I loved the ending. Really made me sit up straighter in my chair and go, 'Huh, well, that makes so much sense now!' Great stuff, HM!
Well, this is good and all, but I wouldn't call it "tragedy"...
*final line*
... Why would you write this? You brilliant, twisted sociopath!
As bermudatri stated, I wouldn't call this a "tragedy".
However, this was nicely paced, even though it didn't have too much of a plot. Very good, my dear.
2371213
The story behind this story is based on another story.
See I'm writing a batman crossover titled Erebus (that you should also read) that features Fancypants in an important roll. As I brainstormed about many things Batman I was reminded that said character has always carried a certain... uh... 'reputaion' around him regarding his co-crimefighter. Since the scene I was writing focused on the not quiet romance between Rarity and Fancypants my brain, for whatever reason, decided to tie these two things together.
2371244
I use Tragedy in the classical definition, I.E. problems caused by the charactes own actions/inactions rather than outside forces. Also, I couldn't justify a 'Sad' tag and 'Slice-of-Life' just doesn't quiet cover it.
2371328
Hmm... Understandable. A very nice little story nevertheless.
This feels less like a story than it does like a proto-story... an IDEA of a story that you got the first few strides out of, but never managed to get to a proper climax or finish line. It doesn't so much end as it simply stops at an arbitrary point, with so much left unsaid. While there's nothing wrong with the idea behind it, neither is the idea, by itself, original, powerful or deep enough to justify its existence.
A perfectly enjoyable read, what little of it there is, but it could've used a week or so longer on the old mental backburner.
2371725
I completely agree, and to be honest, in the hours since I posted this I have realized that this could easily be turned into a prompt dump similar to 'Egghead and Featherbrain'
I, however, already have enough on my plate with the other stories I am committed to without adding this to the list.
Thank you for taking the time to read and comment. I appreciate that far more than favorites and thumbs up.
-Honey Mead
2371725 2371851
It wasn't so much arbitrary as slightly unclear. I actually had to make a double-take before I truly understood what was going on.
I wish you continued with this little one-shot, but it certainly embraced an idea you wanted to show. Just, with all the other things that you mentioned in this one-shot, it was a lot you could have done.
Fleur noticing Fancy's little ticks at the article, perhaps questioning him on it. Delving a bit into their past. Maybe even Fleur wanting to do something about their relationship.
I, for one, enjoyed the story. It was good in its imagery, its idea was left until the end for full appraisal and understanding from the reader, and overall, it was well-written. If there were problems, then they were mere tiny potholes to me.
Such a simple problem... yet it seems to hit us all pretty hard, eh?
2372049
That is making a number of assumptions about Fleur.
Out of curiosity, what were the plot holes? My author blinders seem to be on full tint.
2372086
No plot holes. Just plot waiting to be explored. Those assumptions were made as ideas that the story might chase if you think about expanding it.
Oh... 'potholes'. Nah, that was more referring to semantics than anything (grammar, spelling, etc.)
Quite sad. Being stuck in a fake marriage. Unable to express who you really are. Just tragic, really.
Well, I read through the comments and I seem to be the only one. But what? I get the "not-exactly-a-happy-marriage" part, but the last part with the newspaper confuse me to an extent.
Fancy is feeling betrayed by Blueblood? Or is the article something completely different and some other pony who happen to be a part of the news? Fancypants actually wanted to marry Blublood? I just don't get it, or if that's the point then I can't say it's all that enjoyable.
2373203
The idea is...
Fancypants is gay and in love with Blueblood, but through his own life choices, in seeking to be an accepted and important part of the Canterlot Elite, he chose to marry Fleur. Though he regrets his choice, for a number of reasons, he is still unwilling to risk the fallout of a divorce.
I hope that clears things up for you.
-Honey Mead
2371328
This story qualifies as Tragedy based on the sites metrics as well. The tag is supposed to be used in the traditional sense of Tragedies, most people just don't, however.
2371725
I found the brevity part of the point. It's not something that needs a long story to explain. Everything that needed saying was said; His unhappiness, his unwillingness to try to change the situation, his fear of what would happen if he did, and in the final line the reason for that unhappiness.
Could it be expanded? Yes. But I don't think it would help the message in this case.
2373232
Oh, wow.
I had no idea that was the connotation.
Perhaps I'm just a little slow, but there didn't seem to be any clues helping the reader come to this particular conclusion.
Well-written story, though.
This story really makes me feels sad for Fancy and Fleur.
Holy Jumping Jesus on a blue spray painted pogo stick....
2980516
Uhm.... thanks?
2980521
Sorry... those where the only words that could describe my awe at your unquestionable brilliance
2980536
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2980539
I hope Fancy doesn't knock Fleur up >.< A foal doesn't need to be in the middle of this
Later that day Spike stopped by and handed him a card.
derpicdn.net/media/W1siZiIsIjIwMTIvMTIvMzAvMDlfNTRfNDZfNjI0XzE5NzYyNV9fVU5PUFRfX3NhZmVfc3Bpa2Vfc3Bpa2VfYXRfeW91cl9zZXJ2aWNlX3Nwb2lsZXJfczAzZTA5X3NreXJpbV92aWRlb19nYW1lc181MGRmNDQ1OWE0YzcyZGUwZjgwMDA4NDRfZGFya19icm90aGVyaG9vZCJdLFsicCIsInRodW1iIiwiMjUweDI1MCJdXQ/197625__safe_spike_spike-at-your-service_spoiler-s03e09_skyrim_video-game_50df4459a4c72de0f8000844_dark-brotherhood.jpg.jpg
In the long description:
I think it's obvious what off here,having been there for months on end.
3318020
Though, I feel that I have to point out the slight errors in your own post.
3318128
Sorry 'bout that. My brain wasn't all there, because that's what happens when it's 3pm and no sleep was had the night before
3318821
Hehe, I know the feeling, I also meant to say 'Thank you' but apparently didn't. So, you know, Thanks.
3318916
No worries, friend. Now to the bed that beckons me back!
Space in between. The context of it as it is now suggest a change in subject or support of a previous statement, and I'm very sure you don't mean it that way.
3355040
Fixed
Sorry for the lateness. The QA guy assigned to this had prior responsibilities to attend to. Hope you find the score I gave it the fairest can be
3400719
Nope, totally unfair. I can't believe--
What?
Oh. OH! Ahem. I mean, yes, yes that seems fair.
3400941
Really, really, really fair? Or is that the smugness from getting a 10?
2373232
In that case, Fancy needs to quit being a bitch, cowboy the fuck up and stop giving a fuck what people say.
This story... Well, you did a great job of capturing the hollow, claustrophobic feel of the relationship, but... I don't know, maybe this is just me being a cold, heartless bastard, but I have zero sympathy for their plight. There is literally nothing holding them in this marriage. If it was an arranged thing, then fine, but it's not, they could call ti quits and face nothing but the scrutiny of the snobbish elite... which Fancy has shown to not give a shit about.
And that is my main problem with the story: Fancy Pants seems out of character from what we see from him in the show. In Sweet & Elite, we see that Fancy gives not two shits about the opinions of the snobs. If he did, he would have kicked out the Mane Six for being "uncouth." Instead, he welcomes them as Rarity's friends. Through his facial expressions, his words, and his interaction with Jet Set and Upper Crust, it is pretty clear that he holds their duplicitous nature in contempt, and was more than happy to smack them down. I mean, I guess you could argue that he was ignorant and just being a faffing twit about the situation, but that seems a bit of a stretch. Furthermore, unless you see it as a simple animation error or random nothing, his appearance in Too Many Pinkie Pies suggests that he still has a relationship with Rarity, to the point of visiting her in Ponyville.
It is very possible that this is all just headcanon, so grab yourself a grain of salt, but this just feels... ugh, iunno. Like, I can't See Fancy Pants being such a coward about this kind of thing, that he would go so far as to get married to cover him being gay. Is Equestria really that hostile, that they would shun him for being gay? And even if he would suffer some huge "backlash" from the upper crust(huehuehuehue), would he really care? Again, we've seen that the opinions of those douchebags can be swayed so very easily, so wouldn't he more likely try and be an engine for change? If the snobs are really that homophobic, then come out and shotgun blast it out there, force their prejudices into the court of public opinion!
So... yeah. No downvote, because as I said, you did a damn fine job of conveying the emotions you wanted to, I just can't see it working out like that. Honestly? I was much more even-tempered about it until I read your little spoiler. Then, it just rubbed me in wrong ways. I hate people who feel the need to be fake, or hide themselves, especially when there are no physical threats. If he was some poor guy in some backwater podunk redneck place, then yeah, I could see this. But as one of the most important ponies in the country? Naw. Fancy just needs to quit being a bitch and be himself.
"I say, my fellow fillies and gentlecolts, I am a poofing tail-raiser, and if you don't like it, then by all means, bite my Fancy ass, though I dare say you may have to wait in line."
3596340
Thank you. I tend to agree with you.
Allow me to rebut anyway.
While it's true that Fancy is shown to have little regard for such ponies as Upper Crust, there are limits to such things. It is one thing to be a patron of less than 'couth' ponies and activities, and another to actively participate in them.
Fancy Pants is depicted (in my opinion) not so much as above the other nobility so much as at the top of the food chain. What I mean is, his opinion carries with it a great deal of weight, but that doesn't mean he can't be pulled down. You have to keep in mind that he is still a part of the upper class of Canterlot. He still lives with and interacts with them, and likely relies on them for business purposes, on a daily basis. He is in Canterlot because it is where he thrives the most. His ability to play the social games of the upper class are supreme, but it is still a game with rules.
Supporting Rarity and Co. was his way of screaming for someone to save him. Throughout Sweet and Elite Rarity tries to hide who she is until it becomes impossible. At that moment she chooses who she is over who she pretends to be. Had Fancy not been there things would have gone very badly. Fancy saw himself in Rarity. They were on the same path, both hiding their true selves. He swooped in and saved her, just like he needs someone else to do. The act was likely a risk, it is not unreasonable to think that the others could have just as easily turned on him as well, but one he was willing to take. He lives in fear of the day that he is in the same position. Will he follow Rarity's example, or will he deny himself one final time? Will there be somepony there to catch him if he jumps?
Fancy and Fleur are my favorite background characters, and this is definitely not my preferred portrayal of them. I want Fancy to be a true paragon. I want him to be smart, handsome, successful, and above all good. I just have a hard time imagining anyone on such simple terms. Everyone's got daemons to deal with and sometimes the best of us are the weakest.
I've never come to any solid opinion on Equestria's stance on homosexuality. For the purposes of this story, it's at the least deviant enough that he fears losing everything he's built. Would he come out on top? Probably, but (like a highschool boy asking a girl out) just because it can't really end worse than it already is doesn't make it any easier.
Thanks for reading. Mostly thanks for commenting though, I love defending my ideas. It forces me to analyze myself in ways I otherwise wouldn't.
pic mostly unrelated.
dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/109212453/lore-threewords.gif
3596522
My issue with this story in a nutshell.
When I look back on myself in high school, I cringe. Literally. I loathe that I was ever that concerned with public opinion that I would hide who I was and pretend to be who I was not just to avoid whispers and scorn. Now, being a grown up.... well, "grown up," I gained the strength that comes with experience, the wisdom of years, few though they may be, that tells me not to worry about such things.
When you paint Fancy like this, it's almost insulting to him. It makes him out to be a coward, some cringing schoolboy who worries about the opinions of others. He's not some confident, strong stallion who learned how to play the game; he's a sniveling weasel who learned how to bend himself over backwards to gain public favor, twisting and writhing to be what he's not so he can bask in the fake warmth of people he loathes.
Wait...
Well played, you crafty bastard. Well played, indeed...
I think you were just a little too subtle with the ending. All the pieces are there, and completely obvious in hindsight, but there's enough of an open ending that it's not entirely clear what's going on. There isn't, in other words, anything pushing the reader towards any particular interpretation so that they can say with certainty that they know what's going on. At least, I didn't feel that way. I had to read the spoilers. :B
3596684
This is a problem that I have a great deal of difficulty reconciling. It'd very easy for me to say that everyone else is being obtuse, but I don't think that would be honest or fair. I want to be one of those writers who can hit the mark and leave the reader dropping away with a hand over their mouth in awe of the sudden revelation. I'm just not there yet, and I seem to err on the side of subtlety.
I'll try to be less so in future endeavors.
A for effort, to say the very least. The 'Some pony is secretly gay and that's terrible as far as anyone is concerned' idea is disgusting, and sadly common. At least this one doesn't involve Braeburn walking off a cloud to his death.
I think I like Fancy and Fleur too much for this kind of thing to make sense, never mind be enjoyable. So it's just a personal matter.
3603047
I sympathize, there are plenty of stories that I won't even touch for similar reasons. Maybe you'd like my other Fancy/Fleur compilation story 'The Life and Times of Fancy and Fleur'. It's not very big at the moment, but the subject matter is much lighter.
My greatest issue with this story is that most of the pieces that build the reveal don't really come from the writing, but from the meta of fimfiction. From the beginning, with the way his marriage fails and the reasons he has to be married, this really looks like the kind of story where Fancy Pants would be gay. But there is nothing in the story itself that directly proves it, and you could have been equally justified to assume that, for instance, Blueblood has been photographed kissing a pony Fancy Pants loves.
In a way, it assumes that the reader will assume that the story is playing straight with its tropes - and without some nods from the fic in that direction it is kinda unreasonable to jump to that conclusion.
3603139
For most of the story, that was kinda what I wanted, for the Fancy is gay reveal to come out of left field. To let the reader assume their own reasons for his disquiet. I gather from other comments that it was too vague at the end. It's something that I'll have to work on.
Thanks for the input.
This was a really fascinating read. It definitely leaves me with a feeling of melancholy and, well, 'grey-day-ishness'. Not content, not bittersweet, just sad – Like a real [Tragedy] fic should. That said, I agree completely with 3596340's statement. He put it into words I couldn't quite find. It was then just as interesting to read your response to his words. Your perception of Fancypants in this story is really a different, original, and captivating take on him. And while I agree with both of your statements that it seems off for Fancypants to act the way he does, and that I want him to be a true paragon, this is doubtlessly a great what-if story. I won't say I enjoyed it, for that isn't really the point of [Tragedy], but I'll say that it was surely a good story, and I appreciate the goodness of it. Maybe I'll do a dramatic reading of this at some point.
And now, for a few notes:
I see this sort of thing a lot, and it always strikes me as reading weird. The sentence doesn't exactly change clauses, but the use of a comma just comes across as... awkward. It's not the intended use of commas. A dash or semicolon would work much cleaner.
Same thing here. A comma just isn't the right punctuation to use.
You really need some commas here. Grammatically speaking, they are not necessary, but for the sake of being easily – or at least reasonably – readable, I'd put some commas in to break up the flow. Otherwise it all tumbles out in one sloppy bit of weird.
You've got some sort of error here.
Good stuff, Mead. I shall have to check out some of your other stories, certainly.
3658681
That, my smexily voiced alpaca loving friend, would be amazing.
I think what I learned most from this experience was to never insert my own intentions outside the story. Or rather, to let the words I write establish their own meaning to every readers own desires; authorial intent only matters to the degree in which it succeeds, and that it is completely possible to write a great story about one thing, while attempting to write about something totally different.
Either way, I'm glad you enjo-- like-- um... found it within the acceptable parameters of the genre in which it was cast
-Honey Mead
p.s. Llamas are still better
3603181 I actually think that it being vague at the end is perfect. To me, the point of the story is what's going on in the minds of Fancy Pants and Fleur, with respect to the situation of their relationship and marriage and general state of happiness (or not) with their lives. What specifically that headline says doesn't hurt the real substance of the story by being absent, and it actually works better that way since the 'tell' to the reader should echo the way it would be in real life - it doesn't jump and smack you in the face. There's enough there to get the hint if you're looking, but it's subtle and you could miss it, either through inattention or by being in denial and not wanting to see.
4271732
Thanks. I think your right, and my problem is that I thought it was worthwhile to impose my personal ideas where the story left it vague. I need to remember that the author is dead and shut my dry-rotted lips before someone decides to go for a headshot...
Have a ribbon:
i.imgur.com/6MrWqNZ.png
As well as a thumb, fav, and feature recommendation.
4347584
dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/109212453/Ponky-%20Clap.gif
4348264
You're welcome
Hi there.
I hope you don't mind, but I liked this fic so much I've adapted it into an audiobook over on YouTube:
9323433
