paper tigers written by midnight dancer "and you see, princess, by allocating thebits currently being spent on such frivolous things as music for the public schools, wecan beautify canterlot and bring in more tourist revenue besides." the overstuffed unicornstallion drew himself up to his full height, smiling confidently at princess celestia fromin front of his easel, a posterboard covered in bar graphs settled upon it.celestia sat quietly for a moment, keeping her expression carefully schooled. she considered,briefly, sending his petition to luna instead. with a small sigh, she discarded that idea—shedidn't need luna thinking everything had gone to pot in her absence, nor did she want topay the stallion's therapy bills after luna
was done with him. tilting her head, she gaveoff the impression of deep thought, rose eyes slightly unfocused as the stallion waitedpatiently for her answer. "i see. stuffed shirt, do you mind tellingme why we should stop a program proven to help nurture a foal's ability and willingnessto learn in favor of some pretty paint on old houses?" she smiled down at him gently,keeping the pulse of anger buried deep within her breast.snorting, he began to roll his eyes before catching himself and clearing his throat."ah, as i said, it would bring in tourist revenue for canterlot—""canterlot is the richest city in equestria, with a record high surplus of bits." her assistanthoofed the relevant documents to the stallion,
who gave them only a cursory glance. "i don'tsee a reason why we should cut this education funding.""because the surplus won't last forever—what if canterlot falls on hard times? or a naturaldisaster hits, like that hurricane off of hoofwaii some years back?" that was actuallya fair point, and celestia began considering it, before his next sentence stopped her cold."besides, your highness—it's not as though ponies need to be educated to take out ourtrash or sweep our streets." the anger flared again, and in her head, celestiafantasized, briefly, about immolating him on the spot. a small ruffling of her wingswas the only outward sign of anything being amiss with the princess, and she forced thebile back down again with a small swallow.
"you are suggesting that the ponies in thepublic schools are kept ignorant?" "i'm glad you asked." he pulled up anotherposter in his pale blue aura, settling it on the easel. "as you can see by these figures,test scores are going down year by year. granted, they're still higher than most cities, butthe foals are not performing to standards. they don't appear to care about their education—idon't see a reason to keep funneling money to poor schools and districts when they don'tappreciate it." "i see." celestia peered at the graphs, makinga large show of examining them carefully. "and tell me, how much of this is the faultof lazy foals versus a large influx of foals from our recent population boom? we haven'tsent money to the schools for hiring more
staff in quite some time; i can imagine thatthe schoolteachers are getting overwhelmed." stuffed shirt shuffled nervously as she turnedher gaze to him instead. "in those facts and figures there, do you have the average classsize?" he pulled one document out of his sheaf, eyingit distastefully. "it would appear that the average class size is forty-two."celestia blinked, something finally managing to surprise her. "truly?""yes. but back to my proposal—" he was cut off as celestia raised a wing."i know precisely what to do with it." stifling the urge to request that the proposal be sentto her personal lavatory, she turned to her assistant. "quill feather?" the pegasus cameto her side once more, pulling out a quill
and parchment from under her wings. "i amordering that extra money to account for the population boom be sent to the school districtsof canterlot, districts one through seven. i want you to find out how many teachers theyneed to get the class average down to twenty students maximum, and then send them enoughto hire the teachers. this does include teachers for gymnastics, art, music, and the sciences."quill feather scribbled down the note cheerfully, celestia smiling beatifically at the now stammeringunicorn. he stared back, mouth slightly agape. "princess, even with conservative estimates,that's hundreds of thousands of bits per year—" "i am aware of my country's finances, stuffedshirt." she eyed him coolly, one eyebrow raised as a small smile appeared. "in fact, i mustthank you for bringing this to my attention.
why, with your selfless act of bringing thisto me today, i am certain the schools would love to give you recognition for all yourhelp." stuffed shirt paused, seeming to think aboutit, while celestia's gut churned. gods, how i hate diplomacy in this age. there was atime, many hundreds of years ago, that one of the sisters merely saying something andstamping a hoof was enough to make it so. if a few ponies were upset by that, well,they had dungeons. nowadays, it's all lawsuit this and jailtime that.she sighed. shaking the errant thoughts of days gone by from her head, she forced a kindsmile down at stuffed shirt at his nod. "i'm so glad we could come to an agreement. thankyou for bringing your proposal to court today,
even if the outcome wasn't quite what youwere expecting." the stallion bowed hastily before gatheringup his now moot facts and figures. "thank you, your highness." as he made his way backto the throne room doors, celestia brought her head beside her assistant's to speak privately."quill feather. my use of the word 'you' in my proclamation was literal. i am entrustingthis to you." the pegasus balked, golden eyes widening as she nearly lost her grip on herpapers. "i... your highness, i don't mean to contradict,but we have a minister of education for that—" "a minister of education that is clearly notdoing his job. if he were, this wouldn't be happening." the temperature in the immediatearea rose by several degrees—yet quill shivered
at the look in her sovereign's eyes. "you'veserved me loyally in all things during your time here, and i have nothing but the utmostfaith in your ability to carry out my decree." celestia smiled warmly, allowing one wingto brush fondly over her assistant's back. quill feather smiled, bolstered by her princess'faith, and fluttered her mottled feathers excitedly. "i won't let you down, your highness."celestia looked into the pegasus' eager face, full of hope and determination, and it tookall of her considerable might not to crack and sag beneath it. she smiled instead, nevershowing that it was only the gritting of her teeth that kept her from screaming.purple hooves clacked eagerly across the smooth stone floor of the castle, golden shoes shiningby the lights hung in alcoves along the walls.
as she approached her mentor's quarters, sheslowed, not wanting to appear too eager. twilight sparkle smiled, using her magenta magic tosmooth down some stray hairs in her mane and tail. she breathed deeply before standingstraighter, bringing one elaborately-shod hoof up to knock gently on celestia's door."come in." celestia's voice, normally as warm as the sun and twice as bright, was dull andnearly listless through the heavy wooden door. twilight hesitated for a second, before slippinginto the room quietly. celestia laid upon a large golden pillow,snuggled down into the soft material. an exquisite tea set, painted with roses and vines, saton a small table beside her. small squares of colorful paper littered the table, oneside colored while the other was a matte white.
celestia raised her head from her contemplationof the merry fire in the hearth, and smiled warmly at the newest princess of equestria."twilight sparkle! you know you do not need to knock."hooves shuffling awkwardly, twilight blushed. "i know, but it only seemed polite. but, youwanted to see me, princess?" celestia motioned to the table with a foreleg.twilight approached, settling down on the cushion across from her. she felt a littlethrill of nostalgia—how many times, as a filly, had she settled onto this exact cushionwith this exact tea set in front of her? she lifted her teacup to her lips, savoring thedelicate aroma coming up in small curls of steam for a moment before sipping. celestiamirrored her actions, the two content to merely
drink and be in each others presence for atime. after a few moments of silent bliss, celestiaturned to twilight. the purple alicorn could see the bags under her mentor's eyes, andthe strain of ruling was for the first time fully evident on celestia's face. "twilight,do you enjoy origami?" lifting a blue square in her magenta aura,twilight nodded happily. "yes! i've read a lot of books on it, but haven't had too muchof a chance to try it myself." celestia chuckled, drawing a green squareto herself. she moved the tea set gently to the stone floor, clearing the table for thetwo to work. "it has been a favorite past time of mine over my years of rule. i findit very calming." her golden magic folded
her square expertly, leaving her with a paperswan in a matter of moments. smiling, she animated it with her magic, flying it overthe table to boop twilight on the nose. twilight giggled, beginning to fold her ownpaper carefully the way she'd seen her mentor do. celestia smiled. "now, while you've gotsomething to occupy your mind, tell me what's bothering you."jerking her head up, twilight blushed. "i'm fine, princess, really." another corner ofthe paper folded down carefully. "it's just that ruling is a little stressful, but it'snothing i can't handle." a piece to the side came up, folding into a wing."is that why you rushed to my study so quickly that you sounded more like a herd of antelopethan one pony?" arching her brow, celestia
took a deliberate sip of her tea, eying astammering twilight over the rim. "well... i... it was just..." the smalleralicorn sighed, shoulders drooping. "it's just hard. all this new magic, and i'm somuch stronger than before! i helped luna with the beginning of night court, just to getmy hooves wet, and there was this awful petitioner..." she trailed off, blinking back tears as shestared at her paper. "she just... she didn't care that her blacksmith shop was pollutingthe local river. we—we had to force all these restrictions on her, and we have tosend somepony to check up on her periodically now to make sure she's doing what she's supposedto do." celestia nodded. "these things will happen,twilight."
"i know, she just... she made me so mad! ilifted her paperwork with my magic and it imploded. literally imploded. i didn't...i didn't mean to do that." she lifted her paper again, frustrated, and the tiny foldedswan tore in half. twilight stared at it, letting it drop to the table as tears welledup in her eyes. the two sat together for a time, celestiawatching twilight with sad eyes as she cried out her frustrations. twilight pulled herwings around herself, cuddling in close to them for comfort. after awhile, the sobs turnedto sniffles, and twilight wiped her face quickly with a foreleg. mumbling an apology, she drankdeeply of her tea, letting the jasmine smell calm her."we are like tigers, twilight." celestia settled
back, taking a sip of her own tea again asher student's red-rimmed eyes met her own. "incredibly strong, fierce, and protectiveof our kin. for us, our kin includes all of our little ponies here in equestria."uncomprehending violet eyes met calm rose ones, twilight searching her mentor's forclarification. "why... what?" with a chuckle, celestia pulled another paperto herself in her golden magic. "what i mean is that we are a strong, and very dangerous,force. the smallest slip in a time of stress, and entire cities would be wiped clean offthe map." she calmly folded her paper, studiously ignoring twilight's gaping mouth."have... have you..." a warning glance from celestia stopped her cold, her mentor's steelygaze boring into her.
"have i what, twilight?" celestia's voicewas calm, even loving, entirely at odds with the cold, flinty look in her eyes. "have ikilled populations, reduced landscapes to ash and glass, and burned away countless frailmortal bodies?" twilight sat quietly, mouth working soundlesslyas she blinked at her mentor. the warm, loving light she associated with celestia had beenchanged; it was now that she could see the harsh, blinding side of the sun. that, mixedwith celestia's obvious fatigue, struck twilight speechless for once as she floundered in herown mind to come to grips with everything. abruptly, the older alicorn turned back tothe papers on the table, expression smoothing over expertly as she lifted an orange one."what can you tell me about paper tigers?"
twilight clicked back into the role of studentwith practiced ease, mind clearing at the direct question. "it comes from a chineighsephrase meaning something that is as threatening as a tiger, but is ultimately harmless." shewatched with some awe as celestia spun the paper in her magic, mountain and valley foldsboth executed with ease. "it's often used in literature or politics as a descriptorfor somepony such as..." she paused, tilting her head."such as?" the paper was taking shape, a larger rounded section stemming from a thinner one."such as... such as a king, queen, or other ruler." twilight met her mentor's eyes, confusionand reluctant comprehension warring on her face."very good, twilight." celestia gently folded
down the tiger's head, the smooth, blank facestaring out across the table. "but... princess, we're not... not ultimatelyharmless, are we? i don't understand." twilight gently prodded the tiger with her magic, drawingback as celestia levitated a bit of charcoal over.drawing deliberate, harsh stripes down the tiger's side, celestia shook her head. "weare not. we must hobble ourselves, change from tigers of flesh and blood to those ofpaper. did you not wonder why you and your friends were sent to save the crystal empire?""i... it was a test for me?" celestia inclined her head slightly. "it was.but, twilight... when the gods fight, only mortals lose. the truth is simply that yes,luna and i could have easily disposed of sombra.
he was laughably weak after being imprisonedfor so long. we would have made very short work of him. the problem is that we wouldhave also made very short work of half of the population of the crystal empire."the tiger stood proudly on the table between them, coal smudge eyes glaring fiercely attwilight. the purple alicorn met its gaze, wings ruffling slightly as she shifted. thesilence settled in, broken only by sips of tea from celestia and the soft shifting fromtwilight. "something doesn't make sense." twilight pokedthe tiger with her magic, turning its gaze to celestia. "if we're so dangerous, why dowe need royal guards? i know about using them as a police force, that's fine, but why dothey guard each and every door and hall in
the palace?"celestia beamed, eyes sliding shut as she nodded. "an excellent question. in return,i posit one to you. let's say there's some group of ponies that doesn't like the monarchy.and let's say that in order to make a point, to score a blow against the royal sisters,they decide to assassinate the princess' most faithful student." nudging the tiger to lookat twilight again, celestia opened her eyes. "what, do you suppose, an alicorn mad withgrief might do?" shoulders slumped, twilight looked down atthe table, mind working. "i... i guess you'd forgo a trial...""the accused would never even make it to trial. that is why we have royal guards. they protectthe more foolhardy of our little ponies from
us." celestia rose, stretching out her legsand wings before looking back down at the newest princess. "you must always be mindfulof your emotions, twilight. you must always be in control. and most of all, you must never,never forget that a tiger is only truly dangerous when she is not caged."celestia folded her wings back down, and feeling her student needed some time alone, trottedsoftly out the door. it thudded shut behind her, and twilight barely moved, simply watchingthe little tiger with haunted eyes. a few moments later, the door opened and closedagain, leaving nopony behind but the ashy remnants of an origami project. the end
hello guys snogwritts here congratulationsfor making ot the end of this video. as always i definitely enjoyed reading this fic to allof you alrighty then lets start reviewing this fic ok so heres this now this story is based on the prime rulerherself, celestia. the author had a unique way writing this story specifically with thisrulers perspective against moral ponies. this is relevant in the proposal scene with stuffedshirt and his accusations to spending bits in the right ways. this critical incidentthere revealed celestia’s acts towards these ponies, and it’s clearly seen in the storywith the conversation with twilight as well.
the ending was well thought, it definitelyended it well and wrapped the story up, if it didn’t have any plot holes… the story felt like it was missing something,something vital to plot itself. now do remember the plot is the sequence of events in a storyand for this case the author needed to fill in the “middle†part. yes indeed the beginningand end was good, but the middle felt weak and another event could have been placed tohelp accelerate the story more. the reader can know its characters more since it feelsmore like a short story that can contain a great ending if it has a good middle. my suggestionto the author is to add another event between stuffed shirt and twilight, maybe celestiaexperiences something, another conflict or
leaves her palace, do something for the middle. working on the middle can definitely cause tone to rise, which is disappointing here.according to the official source this is a sadfic, but strongly it isn’t. the storyjust felt more of the “drama genre†the to the “sad†genre, this also recentlyhappened on another fic we read “i spoke to ms. smarty pants today†where comedywas more implemented than darkness. what i can say is this sadfic's tone isn’t as decentat all the way you look at it, the only the tone you get is from twilight , which thefic is focused on celestia which is another flaw. now this author's writing has the potentialto write other genres than sad, my suggestion is to work on writing sadfics so you can presenta good atmosphere to the reader. overall, this writing has potential,
but can be greatly improved. alright let's wrap this video up, so beforeyou write something remember to focus on your genre. if your having trouble finding a genreask these questions to yourself. can i describe the genre in writing, can i convert it tofigurative speech, can i pass it to the characters, can i pass it to the atmosphere.really askthese questions to yourself. alrighty then as always thank you for listeningffellow viewer and if you like the video please give this video a thumbs up and if you haven'talready subscribe to the channel i upload weekly fanfic reads every saturday on a varietyof genres and give an analysis after each one.
alright that's it for me this is snogwrittssigning out
My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic Coloring Book