Today’s story is a tiney glimpse into Equestrian high society.

The Wrong Fork
[Slice-of-Life] • 1,138 words

During a lull in the conversation at an upper class charity dinner, Rarity takes a moment to contemplate some commonly held assumptions made of Princess Celestia. Specifically, her table manners.

FROM THE CURATORS: As previously mentioned here, stories this short — “The Wrong Fork” barely clears 1,000 words — are easy to write, but difficult to write well.  The effect of each word is magnified when a story is so brief, and PoweredByTea uses that here to great advantage.  “This story manages to invest a trivial moment, an idle bit of speculation, and a no-stakes ‘climax’ with such draw that it sucked me right in,” Chris said.  “The Wrong Fork is a great example of how small moments can be used to build character and introspection.”

This fic also drew praise for its strong closing.  “The last line really tied the whole thing together; a nice way to put everything into context,” JohnPerry said.  And Present Perfect marveled at the themes introduced by Rarity’s closing actions: “This is the Equestrian high-society version of a soldier throwing himself on a grenade, or a movement leader going to political prison,” he said.

Ultimately, though several of PoweredByTea’s stories were worthy of a feature, we selected this one for the exemplary mileage it gets out of its brevity.  “My god, this is deep for a thousand words,” Present Perfect said.

Read on for our author interview, in which PoweredByTea discusses social climbing, anthropological studies of the English, and sheep-bone headwear.
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