The Brony Survival Guide

Chapter 8: Royalty.

Written by Jlargent

Me: Sorry for the delay but when I heard about the season finale and the introduction to Princess Cadence I decided to wait until I learn more about her before publishing this chapter. Typical disclaimers apply I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic in any shape or form.

Now as I have mentioned Equestria is ruled by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna this chapter will cover their history as well as their relatives Prince Blueblood and Princess Cadence.

Princess Celestia:Princess Celestia is introduced in the prologue of the first episode, depicted in a series of medieval-like drawings with a narration that says "two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land", and that "the elder used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn. The younger brought out the moon to begin the night." This resembles Norse mythology, where the horses Skinfaxi and Hrímfaxi are responsible for pulling the sun and moon, respectively, across the sky.

The narration continues: their subjects, the ponies, played in the day but "shunned" the night and slept through it, which made the younger unicorn grow bitter, eventually refusing to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. Her bitterness transformed her into a "wicked mare of darkness", Night Mare Moon. The elder sister reluctantly harnessed the power of the Elements of Harmony and banished her "in" the moon, taking responsibility for both sun and moon, maintaining harmony in Equestria.

More of Celestia's history is mentioned in The Return of Harmony Part 1. In the episode, she tells Twilight Sparkle and her friends that before Princess Luna and herself stood up to Discord, he ruled over Equestria, keeping it in a state of unrest and unhappiness. Celestia goes on to describe that seeing how miserable life was for Earth ponies, unicorns, and Pegasi alike, she and Luna discovered the Elements of Harmony and rose up against Discord, turning him to stone. Discord's spell is later broken because, as Celestia explains, "Luna and [herself] are no longer connected to the elements."

Princess Luna

Princess Luna is introduced in the prologue of the first episode, depicted in a series of medieval-like drawings with a narration that says "two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land", and that "the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn. The younger brought out the moon to begin the night."

Princess Luna doesn't make any further appearances in the series until Luna Eclipsed, which aired exactly one year after her previous appearance. Princess Luna returned to the show exactly one year after the broadcast date of Friendship is Magic, part 2, in the episode Luna Eclipsed. The episode takes place in Ponyville during Nightmare Night. Despite wanting to win over the citizens of Ponyville, the townspeople are frightened of her booming voice and assertive manner. Twilight Sparkle tells Spike that Luna must be having trouble adjusting after being gone for a thousand years.

When Luna tries to express her happiness with being purged of her dark powers, Twilight tells her that she sounds like she's yelling, and Luna explains that she's using the "traditional Canterlot voice", the royal we, and high volume in order to properly address her subjects. She uses archaic terms like "hath," "thy," "nay," and "thou," as well as other idiomatic constructs.

Twilight encourages Luna to lower the volume of her voice, but Luna is hesitant. Twilight Sparkle recruits Fluttershy's help in teaching Luna to speak in a softer voice, and later takes her to Ponyville so Applejack can show her how to be likable. For a short while, Luna manages to mingle with the villagers of Ponyville and have fun with them, by playing games where she throws toy spiders or pumpkins onto a target.

Thanks to Pinkie Pie's insight, Twilight Sparkle realizes that because of the holiday, Pinkie Pie and her entourage actually want to be frightened, so she arranges for Luna to purposefully scare them. Luna appears as Night Mare Moon, scares the ponies, and bares fangs. After the ponies run away in fright, she changes back to her usual appearance and spits out the false fangs she was wearing, confused as to why Twilight wanted her to do that. Then one of the foals, Pipsqueak, approaches Luna on behalf of the children and asks her to come back and scare them again next year, even though she canceled Nightmare Night. Luna begins to understand and reinstates Nightmare Night, at which point Pipsqueak declares her his "favorite princess ever" and hugs her leg.

The princess manages to relinquish the use of her royal Canterlot voice, and in the epilogue she plays a variety of games with the villagers, accepts the foals' candy, and frightens Rainbow Dash by firing a bolt of lightning behind her.

Prince Blueblood

Prince Blueblood is a Unicorn who appears at the Grand Galloping Gala. He starts out as the object of Rarity's affections but soon turns out to not be what she was expecting. His name Blueblood is an English idiom for "nobility", or being of noble birth or descent. It has been recorded since 1834 and comes from the Spanish words sangre azul, describing Spanish royal families said to be descendants of the Visigoths.

Prince Blueblood first appears in Rarity's fantasy in The Ticket Master, where she envisions him as a nephew of Princess Celestia in her dream, they swiftly fall in love and marry. In The Best Night Ever, Rarity meets Prince Blueblood in person and he appears physically the same. Rarity expects him to court her as he did in her dream, but it is revealed that he is self-centered and snobbish.

Throughout the entire Grand Galloping Gala, Rarity tries to make pleasant company with Blueblood, but his self-centered nature drives her to the point of extreme irritation. After he uses her to shield himself from an incoming cake, Rarity finally snaps and tells him off as the most "uncaring prince she's ever met", and shakes the cake all over him in retaliation. After the Gala descends into chaos, Rarity and her friends leave the scene, but she loses her glass slipper when running down a set of stairs. Pinkie Pie suggests that now her prince is sure to find her; panic-stricken at the thought, Rarity smashes the slipper and runs off.

Princess Cadence

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza or Princess Cadence for short is Princess Celestia's niece and is married to Twilight Sparkle's older brother Shining Armor Captain of the Royal Guard. She was also Twilight's foal sitter when she was younger. She is known to be kind and considerate to others.

The next chapter will cover the allusions covered in the first two seasons of the series.

To be continued.

Me: That's right the allusions are coming and you'll notice some things that you never noticed!

As always Hoody Hoo!