Here comes more Chrisficcery! · 9:25pm Mar 5th, 2019
Artistic LicenseWhen Princesses Celestia and Luna visit a public art gallery, they come upon a painting of Celestia, banished to the moon. They react to this in the only reasonable way: artistic criticism and analysis.
New story! Read it, or, if you want to know more first, head down below the break (but then read it).
Artistic License got its start through the writeoff, and specifically a pic-to-fic round. In those, a prompt ("Reversal of Fortune," in this case) is given, artists have a few days to make art based on it, and after all of that is made public, writers have a few days to write a story inspired by one or more of the pieces. As far as I can tell, the stories don't have to be based on the original prompt, just their art... but I got it in my head that it would be a neat "reversal of fortune" to write a story not just based on a picture, but literally about the picture, and about critiquing it in-universe. Well, Rocket Lawn Chair's wonderfully silly picture of Celestia on the moon was perfect for that idea, and took it from meta-concept to actual-story-concept; after all, who better to talk about such a picture than the two ponies most closely associated with lunar banishment?
When I actually started writing, though, I found it was going to be more about the princesses themselves than I'd at first realized. Sharing a piece of art with someone--a story, a movie, a painting--gives us a freedom to talk about things that are personal to us without making them quite so personal; it gives us the necessary distance to say things that maybe we couldn't say to each other without that intermediary, or maybe couldn't even say to ourselves. A picture about the princesses gives the princesses permission to talk about themselves, a level removed from the emotion and trauma of the subject matter.
Of course, this is a 3000 word slice-of-life fic with comic leanings, so it's not like it goes deep into their psyches. But that idea of art as granting the emotional distance from ourselves for a conversation to take place ended up being a big part of the story.
And now, after some additions and edits (thanks to the writeoff crew for their great help in that regard!), Artistic License is ready for your consumption! Dig in, hope you enjoy, and no matter what don't be afraid to discuss what you think of it 
Looks interesting. I'll be sure to check it out sometime.