Tag Archives: drama

Dubs Rewatcher’s “Something Like Laughter”

28 Saturday May 2016

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Though there’s little to laugh about in it, today’s story is quite something.

something-like-laughterSomething Like Laughter
[Dark] [Drama] [Slice of Life] • 4,027 words

It’s been six months since Tirek was defeated, but Trixie still has nightmares. Nightmares of being pinned down, of the magic being ripped from her bones, of being thrown around like a worthless doll. It’s been six months since Trixie has had a full night’s sleep, and all she wants is peace.

But Trixie is fine. Trixie doesn’t need Twilight. She doesn’t need her family. She doesn’t need anyone. Trixie loves being alone.

So why can’t she stop crying?

FROM THE CURATORS: This is “not just a story about Trixie dealing with having had her magic stripped from her by Tirek,” as Present Perfect put it, but one that takes a broader look at her troubled character.  And “it works very well,” as Soge put it, “in showing how Trixie is trapped in her cycle of depression and trauma.”  Present Perfect added: “I’ve never seen a more topical, in-universe way to approach the tired old ‘sad Trixie story’ trope. I definitely felt this one, and what makes it work is the layering of emotional states.”

It certainly hit us hard on that level.  “This just plain pulls out all the stops, taking the character up to the breaking point and right on through,” AugieDog said.  “The language, the pacing, the structure: it all comes together in a portrait of a pony literally and figuratively thrown against a wall and trying desperately to bounce back.”  Chris said that the strong prose was a major contributing factor to that: “Dubs has a knack for vivid descriptions, and uses the immediacy of present tense to good effect.  I always appreciate it when an author’s choice of perspective dovetails so nicely with the story’s design, rather than feeling arbitrary.”  Present Perfect also praised the writing: “I liked the way it’s never quite clear how far inside her head we are. Things like the cut-off sentences are very effective in keeping the reader off balance, which only helps drive home how chaotic her mindset is.”  And while the story’s prose choices were its most notable feature, it was well constructed on a much broader level.  “There’s plenty to like,” Soge said.  “The stream of consciousness writing, that clever shift at the end, how it seamlessly transits between reality and the dream in chapter 1, and Trixie’s characterization as a whole.”

Given all that, it might be surprising to learn that this was written and published long before Trixie’s recent reappearance — and even more so to read it with that context in mind.  “We often talk about stories that have been invalidated by canon, but here’s a rare case where post-publication episodes actually enhance the story,” Chris said.  “With Starlight Glimmer now clearly established as Twilight’s live-in student, Trixie’s feelings of inadequacy and resentment here take on new depth.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Dubs Rewatcher discusses sunlight allegiances, musical superpowers, and the life-changing effects of fandom.
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Aragon’s “A Million Little Lights”

13 Friday May 2016

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Today’s story lets a novel interpretation of Princess Celestia shine.

million-little-lightsA Million Little Lights
[Drama] [Slice of Life] • 2,176 words

Tonight, Celestia will talk to Shining Armor. With just one conversation, she needs to save Equestria.

FROM THE CURATORS: The core of this story, which earned rare unanimous curator approval, is “Celestia trying by sheer force of will to stop ponies — including herself — from believing in her divinity,” as AugieDog put it.  And both the vision and the execution of that idea were exemplary.  “This is a really singular ‘goddess Celestia’ story,” Present Perfect said. “It’s clear the Celestia in this story could solve the world’s problems in a heartbeat, or the problems of single ponies, but if she does, they won’t learn anything. Assuming she doesn’t make things worse somehow, as her sorrowful monologue at the end suggests.”

But while this shines as an idea story — “The idea of walking the tightrope between being a living symbol and being the object of zealotry is explored concisely, but compellingly,” Chris said — its depth as a character piece won our equal acclaim.  “Celestia’s a remarkable combination of alien and all-too-comprehensible,” Horizon said, and AugieDog found her extremely sympathetic: “Her inner struggle is so nicely rendered — very calm, very quiet, very Celestia, but very heartfelt.”

That sympathetic portrayal made this story both a moving experience and an easy choice for a feature.  “Celestia repeating her phrase like a mantra drives home just how easy it is for even a creature who can all but see the future to become trapped into a world — and a role — they can’t abide,” Chris said.  And its economy of storytelling was the cherry on top of the narrative sundae.  “This is a fantastic little one-two punch of a story … it really is remarkable how vivid a picture this paints given its length,” Horizon said. “Not a word feels wasted here.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Aragon discusses finger guns, nightmare retardant, and boys named Texas.

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Doppler Effect’s “A Brief History Of Time”

06 Friday May 2016

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… Therefore, by Farnsworth’s logic, we were always meant to feature today’s story.

brief-history-timeA Brief History Of Time
[Drama] [Sci-Fi] • 5,861 words

“Anything that happens, happens.

Anything that, in happening, causes something else to happen, causes something else to happen.

Anything that, in happening, causes itself to happen again, happens again.

It doesn’t necessarily do it in chronological order, though.”

– Douglas Adams, Mostly Harmless

Twilight and Minuette discuss Starlight Glimmer’s timeline disruptions.

Twilight just wishes the conversation had happened in chronological order.

FROM THE CURATORS: There are two types of fanfics — those which leap from canon into the unknown and unexplored, and those which dig into the details of the show to bring new context to the moments we love — and this is an easy exemplar of the second type.  “At its heart, this is a short and simple exploration of how to reconcile the S5 finale with It’s About Time‘s premise of stable time loops,” Chris said in his nomination.  Horizon praised the nuance with which it handled that topic: “The way this squares two episodes with seemingly incompatible time-travel theories is sharp, and it’s got a good eye for the multiple-timeline consequences the episode leaves unexplored.  It’s nice to find writing both this smart and this clear.”  AugieDog especially appreciated that clarity: “Time travel stories in general make me itchy, so anything that serves to lessen that itchiness is always welcome.”

But this fic isn’t content to merely bat around time-travel ideas.  “There are tons of cool little details, like the idea that Equestria would have a journal for both fiction and true accounts, or the rotation of the magical bubble,” Soge said.  “It takes a premise which could easily fit a blog post, and turns it into a full fledged story thanks to some great characterization work.”

It was that “terrific character writing,” as AugieDog put it, that sealed the deal on the feature.  “I love it when Minuette gets serious and Twilight realizes that this isn’t just a theoretical discussion they’re having — and the way the story comes up with a Pony-logical solution for the problem it’s addressing,” AugieDog added.  Soge enjoyed the characters as well: “Minuette is adorable, Twilight is perfectly in character, and it has amazing comedic timing,” he said.  And, as Chris noted, Minuette’s personality served the story very well: “Her cheeky carefree-ity is used to keep what could easily have become an overly-technical bit of headcanon from being too narrow in scope or dry in tone.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Doppler Effect discusses Novikov consistency, Terminator predestination, and Asimov’s ambiguously real goose.
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N00813’s “Schemering Sintel”

22 Friday Apr 2016

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Today’s story walks the lonely road to revenge.

schemering-sintelSchemering Sintel
[Adventure] [Dark] [Drama] [Sad] [Tragedy] • 29,611 words

It’s been a long, long time since Spike was stolen from her, but Twilight hasn’t forgotten nor forgiven.  After a long and arduous journey, she has finally found him and his kidnapper.

She will save him.

No matter the cost.

FROM THE CURATORS: While Schemering Sintel doesn’t flinch from its Dark tag, it’s “a very clever grim fic,” as Soge put it:  “It is a great example of how to twist a character beyond recognition without alienating the audience.”  Indeed, it was the way that the story handled its vision of a morally altered Twilight which drew the most curator praise.  “Where this piece excels is showing,” Present Perfect said.  “It’s not just a story about Twilight finding Spike, but about her changing over an extreme period of time filled with hardship. And that change is shown perfectly in the final chapters, when it seems like the plot has finished, but the story is still going.”  Chris agreed: “This is character development done right.  Twilight’s dual growth and collapse as a character doesn’t stop at any one point … the dramatic moments are simply waypoints that show what she’s become.”

We also found the construction of the world around Twilight worthy of note.  “It’s a great fantasy adventure,” Present Perfect said, “from the unfriendly civilizations Twilight encounters to the beautifully-described landscapes and the cool stuff like her mythril tattoos.”  Horizon also praised that worldbuilding: “There are some really unique ideas here that feel uniquely Equestrian while supporting a tone we’d never see in the show.”  But in the end, Soge said, it came back to the strong writing of that world’s inhabitants: “It is an adventure that focuses on character rather than action, and is all the stronger for that.”

It was that strength which has kept Schemering Sintel relevant despite its vision of Equestria becoming increasingly obsolete with newer seasons’ canon.  “I think it’s interesting to note to what extent this story is a product of its time,” Chris said.  “The broader world of Equestria wasn’t nearly as well fleshed out before Season 3; I don’t think you could write a story with a similar tone today without doing significantly more to set the stage for all the violence, cynical choices, etc.  But viewed in the light of the first two seasons, this holds up extremely well as a glimpse of how the world can silence our better angels.”

Read on for our author interview, in which N00813 discusses friendship entropy, thematic architecture, and glued-together pieces.
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Grand_Moff_Pony’s “Ciphers”

01 Friday Jan 2016

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There’s no secret to the quality of today’s story — just a gripping look at the secrets of a mare facing a life-changing decision.

ciphersCiphers
[Drama] [Romance] [Slice of Life] [Tragedy] • 6,110 words

Untold luxury and wealth. A place in high society. A life full of the finer things. All this and more await Fleur, but at what cost?

Now, Fleur must decide: Is love worth nothing, or is it a secret worthy of sacrifice? Can she be the mare she is and the mare she has to be?

A cipher, after all, can be anything — or nothing at all.

FROM THE CURATORS: This story came to us via multiple recommendations in our story suggestion thread — and it was easy to see why.  “The writing is gorgeous,” Chris said.  “Pleasantly full of detail without falling into overlong rambling, it nicely mirrored the opulence of the setting.”  Horizon similarly praised the way the story grounded itself in detail: “All the little motions and mementos bring Fleur to life.”

That writing was in service of a story far afield from the show’s usual fare.  “This is a great piece, full of drama and romance and upper-class tragedy,” Present Perfect said.  “We get Fleur on the eve of an arranged marriage, barely pulling off the adoring trophy wife routine while desperately trying to hang onto the last vestiges of the life that once made her happy.”  We found Grand_Moff_Pony’s treatment of that premise unexpectedly captivating.  “Stories about the tribulations of the exceedingly wealthy have never really resonated with me … so it’s doubly impressive that I enjoyed it so much,” Chris said. “She’s faced with a choice where there’s no good answer, but her decision makes her feel more real — more flawed — than having her either bet on love or try to make a ‘noble sacrifice’ would have.”

It wasn’t just Fleur’s characterization that we appreciated.  “Even though her lover spends most of the story offscreen, their relationship is vibrant and moving,” Horizon said, and Present Perfect agreed: “She’s characterized well, and she’s got really good chemistry with the OC brought in to be her paramour.”  And the setting itself came to life in much the same manner.  “What really struck me was the sense of ‘negative space’ in the story, the feeling of emptiness, isolation, and echoing stillness — I don’t think Fleur moves more than a handful of steps throughout the entire piece,” AugieDog said.  “It surrounds her and her mementos in a very effective way.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Grand_Moff_Pony discusses cardboard starships, on-screen level-ups, and over 9000 moments.
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billymorph’s “Red Apples”

09 Friday Oct 2015

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Take a bite of today’s story for a classic tale of culture shock.

red-applesRed Apples
[Drama] • 3,891 words

How much can change in a hundred years? How much can change in a thousand? The day of the Nightmare’s defeat Princess Luna finds herself adrift, a thousand years away from the world she knew. With her home in ruins and Equestria changed beyond all recognition, is there anything left for her when even apples are strange?

FROM THE CURATORS: Back in the earliest days of the fandom, speculation about Princess Luna’s troubles adjusting to the modern world was a common fanfiction topic.  The past few months have seen some resurgence of interest in classic premises — and this modern interpretation was “fun, fun, fun,” as AugieDog put it.  “Red Apples stands out from the pack of ‘Time-Lost Luna’ stories,” Present Perfect added —and Writeoff Association readers agreed, awarding this first place in their August 2015 competition.

One of the factors elevating the story was the vivid and often surprising way in which it portrayed the world surrounding the princess.  “The ways it demonstrates what ‘one thousand years’ means are really gripping,” Present Perfect said, and AugieDog elaborated: “It’s an ode to the power of small details, not just in the construction of an effective story, but in the living of an effective life.” For example, Chris praised its subversion of the all-too-common Luna vs. Dubstep cliche: “It does a great job of showing how even things like music, the universality of which people so often take for granted, can change beyond recognition quickly.”

But we were equally impressed by its handling of its central characters.  “I love that Celestia is trying to help her sister acclimate to things in full Trollestia mode, leading to some great bonding moments,” Present Perfect said, and Horizon agreed: “Luna’s nostalgia is just what this story needed to reconcile the two roles Celestia plays, of supportive sister and incorrigible prankster.”  And that nostalgia, as Present Perfect noted, was itself handled elegantly.  “What Red Apples really does well is get us inside Luna’s head,” he said.  “This is about the second episode of Season 1, but her thoughts are all Season 2 Luna, a clever reconciliation of the two sides of her that few have attempted before.”

Read on for our author interview, in which billymorph discusses cyberpunk dystopias, childhood RPGs, and the abolition of gender.
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Inquisitor M’s “Every Mare Needs Her Stallion”

18 Friday Sep 2015

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Secrets lie beneath the surface of today’s story — though they might not be the ones you’re expecting.

every-mare-needsEvery Mare Needs Her Stallion
[Drama] [Slice of Life] • 7,967 words

After Fluttershy threw a tantrum in Ponyville’s marketplace, Rarity invited her over for some good old girly gossip. The Fluttershy that turns up on her doorstep, however, is absolutely not the one she was expecting. Somefilly has a secret and Rarity isn’t above using a few tricks to find out what it is.

FROM THE CURATORS: This story also isn’t above using a few tricks to keep you distracted until the reveal hits — serving some shipteasing from unexpected quarters — but we were too engrossed by the prose quality to mind.  “This is a super-showy piece, dense not just with character drama, but with scenes and looks and touches that weave the tapestry of the central friendship,” Horizon said, and Chris added: “Inquisitor M keeps the focus here tightly on his characters’ emotional reactions and impetuses, sometimes to the exclusion of all else.”

That narrow focus gave this story a chance to dive deeply into the depths of its protagonists. “It’s about the best use I’ve ever seen Inquisitor M make of his ’emotions tightly-clamped’ style,” AugieDog said. “The events of the story, if told any other way, wouldn’t be nearly as powerful.”  Several of us cautioned that that reliance on showing made this story a dense one — “readers with a taste for implication-heavy literature will definitely be impressed, but make no mistake; this isn’t light reading,” Chris said — but for all that, Every Mare Needs Her Stallion was a clean read. “All the buildup to this story was ‘pay close attention,’ but I didn’t feel at the end as if I’d missed anything,” Present Perfect said.  “I really feel like this story has itself wrapped up, even if there’s room for interpretation.”

In the end, it was that combination of comfortable density and depth which impressed us.  “It’s the kind of story that rewards readers for investing in it.  Isn’t that exactly the sort of thing the RCL should be featuring?” Chris said, and AugieDog summed it up succinctly: “One of those rare stories where I find just about every word to be vital.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Inquisitor M discusses half-questions, unshipping, and the great war against chaos and despair.
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PatchworkPoltergeist’s “A Diamond and a Tether”

24 Friday Apr 2015

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Today’s story is a rich look at a pair of poor little rich girls.

diamond-tetherA Diamond and a Tether
[Drama] [Slice of Life] [Human] • 13,294 words

Heiress Lucy Burdock knows life has a way of surprising you.

For example, she wasn’t expecting a little pink pony for her birthday. She certainly didn’t expect it to start talking, either. It was cute at first, but it kinda feels more like taking care of a little kid than a pony. Lucy’s never really been great with kids … but she can make it work!

Can’t she?

FROM THE CURATORS: When The More Most Dangerous Game Contest challenged entrants to reinterpret fandom classics, this story stood out, placing second in a crowded field of 92 entries.  We were equally impressed, especially with the originality it brought to My Little Dashie’s core premise.  As JohnPerry explained: “A human is gifted with a pony in a box and tasked with raising it … then completely screws it up. And not in a way that seems sadistic or cruel, like many an MLD parody, but in a way that seems unsettling but still believable.”

We agreed that that premise wrung emotions out of unexpected places.  “It’s hard to make rich brats sympathetic, but it had me aching for the feelings of a self-absorbed trust fund kid — and without ever getting preachy, or dropping a ‘being rich doesn’t mean you’re happy!’ cudgel on the reader,” Chris said.  One aspect of that was the well-constructed characters, as Present Perfect noted.  “You’ve got a noteworthy human protagonist in spoiled, vain Lucy,” he said. “You’ve got the beleaguered housekeeper. And Diamond Tiara doesn’t exist just for Lucy’s narrative benefit. This is her story, and it presents a wholly engrossing backstory for her.”

While any reinterpretation of our fandom’s most-read story has large shoes to fill, we unanimously agreed that A Diamond and a Tether held up both inside and outside of Dashie’s context. “I think it’s a testament to the creativity of this fandom that this was written out of a prompt based on My Little Dashie, because it’s the polar opposite of that story in terms of tone or outcome,” JohnPerry said.  Present Perfect agreed: “It can stand alone without MLD, yet it does so many things that story did, only better.”

Read on for our author interview, in which PatchworkPoltergeist discusses floriography problems, ornithology comparisons, and unexpected gerbils.
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ponichaeism’s “The Mare In The High Castle”

20 Friday Mar 2015

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Broadcasting on all frequencies, today’s story comes to you from an Equestria that’s turned dark in more ways than one.

mare-in-high-castleThe Mare In The High Castle
[Alternate Universe] [Dark] [Drama] [Mystery] [Sci-Fi] [Thriller] • 161,695 words

“Hello, hello, hello, this is Thorny Bends coming at you live on Radio Free Canterlot, and from where I’m sitting, folks, the Land of the Eternal Moon is looking lovely. Well, except for that nasty smog cloud rolling toward us from the coast, but hey, that’s the price of progress. Still, if you’re heading outside you might want to think about an Easy Breezy-brand respirator, guaranteed to make the air taste like new. Buy yours from all major retailers today!

“As I’m sure you all know, it’s been almost a thousand years since the founding of our great civilization. And as the big day approaches, I sure hope the High Castle set their clocks right. I’d hate to find out it was really last Thursday. Ha! But seriously, folks. I’ve been doing a fair bit of thinking about our fair Canterlot, and I’ve realized it isn’t just somewhere we all live. It’s what we build together into something greater as we all reach for the moon. A symbol for a way of life and a state of mind. So, in honor of the thousand years, I’m taking an eye in the sky peek into the lives of the ponies on the streets, and a few in the penthouses too. I don’t often do real news on this show, but these are some genuine equine interest stories, folks. In their own small, unique way, these ponies are as vital to the city as the princess of the night herself. So settle down, get comfortable, and don’t touch that dial.

“You won’t want to miss this, I guarantee.”

FROM THE CURATORS: This story’s path to its feature started with a suggestion on our recommendation thread, and despite its 160,000-word length, it caught our attention right away with its vivid portrayal of an eternal-night Equestria.  “This story is far from being merely a pony re-write of Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle,” JohnPerry said.  “The level of thought that went into developing this nightmarish — yet eerily familiar — alternate world and its cruel philosophies is astounding, and it manages to combine an epic scope with surprisingly intimate portrayals of its characters.”  Chris agreed: “This is a wonderful use of the AU tag. It takes a single conceit — that something went differently a thousand years ago — and projects how that one change would reverberate to the present, butterfly-in-China-style.”

We all agreed that the characterization which followed from that shift was exemplary, and Horizon cited one of High Castle’s central examples. “Twilight Sparkle spends the vast majority of the story as a reprehensible alcoholic racist haunted by nightmares,” he said, “and yet the entire setting and theme of the story are crafted so as to make it clear that she is that way because their world is fundamentally broken, and the Twilight we see is just a reflection of that.”  JohnPerry agreed, adding, “it’s incredible how ponichaeism managed to make the characters recognizable in spite of all the horrors of the world they are subjected to.”

The story doesn’t flinch from presenting those horrors as necessary to explore the dark corners of its premise, which earned high praise from Chris. “Can we take a moment to talk about Granny Smith?” he said.  “Because she’s where the author most impressed me on the pacing front. … She’s slotted in right where she needs to be to have maximum impact with minimum premise-questioning by the readers, and (up until the end) that’s how I felt about most of the big revelations.”

But The Mare In The High Castle isn’t just a parade of bleakness.  “It has a lot to say about the earth counterparts of the things it ponifies, but it has a lot to say about the ponies at the same time, and this is fundamentally and unquestionably MLP at heart,” Horizon said.  “For instance, this is the finest Flash Sentry story this fandom will ever produce.  He’s just as broken as the rest of this world, but he owns it, and he stands up and shows us that there can be beauty regardless.  I want to feature it for that alone.”

Read on for our author interview, in which ponichaeism discusses Gnostic sects, uncarved blocks, and the curious collision of Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski and Philip K. Dick.
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JawJoe’s “Queen of Queens”

31 Friday Oct 2014

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Today’s story doesn’t have long to make its point, but wow, what an impact it’ll leave.

queen-of-queensQueen Of Queens
[Dark] [Drama] • 15,000 words

Our kind has it that the life of a queen is the happiest, for they are blessed with the shortest time in this world. A mighty queen will be remembered for eternity, forever residing in the hearts of her people. The greatest tragedy a queen can suffer is to be forgotten — to be stricken from history.

I refuse to bend before oblivion.

FROM THE CURATORS: Given the number of authors that entered Equestria Daily’s recent Outside Insight contest (and the quality of their prose), it’s no surprise that it’s been a rich source of RCL features — but what did surprise us was the breadth of the entries’ quality.  Our last two features spotlighted the humorous end of the entries, but Queen of Queens is pure drama, with a tale of struggle and redemption.  We unanimously agreed: what a drama it is.

“Now here’s an author who knows what they’re doing. The story of Chrysalis, from birth to death, is an unparalleled feat of worldbuilding,” Present Perfect said, and the first words out of JohnPerry were similar: “Absolutely exquisite worldbuilding.”  Chris dug further in: “This is how you do worldbuilding.  You make a couple of original assumptions that can still fit within the canon lore, and then you examine them to their fullest conclusions.  [Queen of Queens’ changelings] are an amazing example of race-building in fiction — alien, yet recognizable enough to inspire empathy.”

The core concept — that, in contrast to mortal ponykind with its immortal alicorns, the changelings are an immortal race with short-lived leaders — was “an amazing idea, with sterling execution,” as Horizon put it; but this story went well beyond that.  “It’s not often I get to see a sympathetic portrayal of Chrysalis that doesn’t make me roll my eyes,” JohnPerry said, but as Chris said, “she’s a compelling, interesting character despite the reserved narrative style. … Her fatal flaw is well-established without being sledgehammer-y, and that makes the ending (which, in lesser hands, would have felt like a copout) seem sincere.”

All of this, plus the engaging prose, added up to a gripping and unique fanfiction experience.  “I drank this down in one sitting and never once felt my mind wander,” Chris said. “The entire story feels wonderfully, vibrantly alive.”

Read on for our author interview, in which JawJoe discusses holiday episodes, games of make-believe, and self-imposed existential nightmares.

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