Today’s story is a short, potent look at losing a loved one who hasn’t gone anywhere.

Alabaster
[Sad] [Slice of Life] • 2,165 words

Vinyl Scratch visits her father.

FROM THE CURATORS: Our mission at the RCL is to find stories which truly stand out as exemplars of what pony fanfiction can be — whether that means exceptional wordsmithing, clever approaches to canon, deep worldbuilding, etc.  Alabaster cut right through that to grab our attention with how bluntly evocative it is.  “This feels genuine,” Present Perfect said.  Chris agreed: “Either the author’s writing from experience, or there was a major investment of empathy in this fic.”

We also noted the sure hand of its laconic prose.  “Its biggest strength is the way it knows exactly how much detail to show,” Ben said, and Chris added, “It’s the little things, like where she’s feeling frustrated at the pleasant-but-generic items the staff puts out, that elevate this from ‘generic sadfic’ to ‘potentially cathartic.'”

Read on for our interview, in which DawnFade discusses forgetting and reveals the reason behind the story’s title.
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