Today’s story is a foray into diplomatic impunity.

Fun in the Summit
[Comedy] [Slice of Life] • 7,774 words

Trade negotiations. Board meetings. Formal garden parties. Not the definition of a fun weekend for Princess Celestia at all.

However, Celestia has a plan. Rarity’s going to join her this year, and by their gossiping powers combined, they may be able to turn this upcoming convention into something a little more unconventional.

FROM THE CURATORS: When we find a story that we appreciate for its depth, it’s a rare pleasure to find it also in top form from the start.  “This story had me hooked from the first line, displaying a detached, dry humor which I found instantly appealing,” Chris said to wide agreement such as Horizon’s: “Chris isn’t kidding about the excellence of the opening. It cracks not just three solid jokes but three different types of jokes in three sentences. The sequence about the meeting’s bureaucratic opening is somewhat low-hanging fruit, but the execution of it is a thing of beauty.”  And that beautiful hilarity extended to the details: “What kind of a name is ‘Snaptibia’?” Present Perfect asked.  “A great one, that’s what.”

But the deeper drama here drew as much praise as the comedy.  “Toward the end, FrontSevens turns to a bit of introspection on how immortality changes one’s priorities and sense of scale, and — importantly — does so without abandoning the tone of that which came before,” Chris said.  “The exaggerated characters which surround Celestia and Rarity complement that tone perfectly as well.”  He wasn’t the only one to comment on the smoothness with which the story made that transition.  “The comedy is never forced, with a breezy quality exemplified by how Celestia and Rarity blithely ignore everything and everyone around them, and it’s entirely hilarious,” Present Perfect said.  “Then, the final scene’s poignancy was unexpected, but not unwanted.”

We found both the comedy and drama bolstered by sharp character work.  “Rarity is just fabulous throughout the fic,” Soge said.  “The way she talked with Celestia worked really well, and every time they started gossiping I had a smile on my face.”  And it was tied together by the fic’s unusual princess interpretation: “I have to say that I quite like this characterization of Celestia,” AugieDog said.  “It’s a huge contrast to the way she’s usually presented — she has no goals at all, and in fact can’t see anything but silliness in what’s going on around her. That’s why the narrative voice is so arch and distancing: this is the unreliable third person narrative going on in Celestia’s head, the one that reduces all conflicts to checkers games and just about every other being in the world to buffoons and caricatures.  But she’s making an honest effort to reconnect to the world, and her plan kind of works.”

Read on for our author interview, in which FrontSevens discusses bonus edgelords, cross-stitch signals, and dingus hahas.
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