Today’s story is about the lines that we tell ourselves should not be crossed.

To Be A Mule
[Sad] [Slice of Life] • 2,983 words

She smiles at him every time she comes to visit the stately home where he works as a gardener, but Dilly Daliér has never spoken to her.

Nor will he ever.

Because he’s a mule and she’s a unicorn, and those are the rules.

FROM THE CURATORS: “This is a short, sad story about institutionalized racism in Equestria,” Present Perfect said when nominating it. “You’ve got regret, longing, and societal pressures balled up into a neat little package.”

That sparked quite an interesting debate over this story’s presentation of discrimination.  “This story certainly feels like an antebellum South metaphor,” Horizon observed, and JohnPerry chimed in: “It’s always good to find a story that deals with the matter of racism without whitewashing it.”  On the other hoof, Chris pointed out: “It’s not really a story about racism; it’s a story about class.  If Daliér and his dad were earth ponies, they would’ve said that was the uncrossable divide. … The problem isn’t that ‘those kind of ponies’ don’t marry mules; it’s that ‘those kind of ponies’ don’t marry anyone who isn’t ‘those kind of ponies.'”  AugieDog found some middle ground: “Whether it’s about species or race or class, this story is very much about ‘being the outsider,’ about looking in at a group whose opinion of yourself you accept as being more true than your own opinion of yourself.”

Those themes are embodied in a pair of OCs whose layered characterization gave us plenty to dig into.  “I understand why the father personally would stick around as a gardener, but it seems almost like he’s actively trying to force his son away from anything that will make him happy or successful,” Chris said, and JohnPerry argued: “The elder donkey, far from coming across as unenlightened or callous, actually sounds pragmatic and sympathetic. … That illustrates how that divide is often self-enforced through the collective fears or indifference of those who are affected by it.”

As should be obvious from how much the story’s central idea engaged us, we found the depth of To Be A Mule exemplary; that and its clean writing sent it to a feature. “There’s not a whole lot else to say about it, other than it does what it sets out to very well,” Present Perfect said, while JohnPerry was more effusive: “If there’s any complaint I have of this story, it’s that I wanted more at the end. So if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go read the sequels.”

Read on for our author interview, in which archonix discusses statuesque sacrifices, fanfiction dating, and the two types of reading.
Continue reading →