It Is Recommendsday, My Dudes #164 · 7:18pm May 8th
Right. A month or so ago I mentioned that I was getting ready to launch some bigger thematic batches of stories, which is why I was trying to clear up my new authors folder. The bigger one of those was a focus series on the Student Six, which I'd planned to start as soon as a month came up with five Wednesdays.
…Yeah I was supposed to start it last week. Bother.
ANYWAY better late than never so let's talk multicultural teenage polycules. By random draw, I'm starting this week with Ocellus.
And I'm starting that with the obvious choice because how could I write about Ocellus without bringing up semillon? In this case specifically with HOLES.
Ocellus - now a professor at the School - has to deal with a problem student. Hyaline is a changeling. Born out of the first hatching post-Chrysalis, he's never had to deal with what the older changelings did. So he has no problem walking around with holes in his legs - but Ocellus does. A lot of problems.
So to start with - how the hell have I not featured semillion before? They're THE writer for Student Six fics and I've got nine of their fics in my general queue for this blog. Yet somehow, I haven't put 'em up before now. Sem's got an amazing feel for these characters and can swing to both comedy and drama with aplomb. I've no idea how I kept not showing them off.
Anyway - the story itself. Part of why I love this one in particular is that it approaches one of what I think is the Student's least used traits: most of them are trauma magnets with horrible pasts. (I mean, Smolder is one of the well-adjusted ones and that's saying a lot.) Silverstream is from a race of refugees who fled from a war; Gallus was a dirt poor orphan; and here, we're reminded of how Ocellus was part of a race of marauding parasites who considered the ponies she now lives with prey. There's a lot of generational guilt going on there on top of what she herself had to deal with directly.
And it's all brought to the surface by the student. The comments have a lot of debate about just what Hyaline's doing and why - personally I attribute a lot of it to youthful rebellion - but the more important part's how Ocellus reacts to it. It's a reminder of that dark past she and the other changelings have to deal with, and the best part of the drama is her coming to terms with that. Smolder's great as well, giving a much needed sounding board to the otherwise internal debate. And the ending… well, it feels right. It works. Again, the comments are full of debate about if it's correct, but I hold that it's a proper Ocellus response. And the character being true to themselves matters more.
While this isn't my absolute favorite semillion fic (I'm saving that one for later) it's a top notch exemplar of Ocellus' depth of character.
On the flip side, I'm going to turn the spotlight to a fairly unknown author: Bonster with Am I a Political Pawn?
Ocellus knocks on Guidance Counselor Starlight Glimmer's door with a question. One that's simple but also extremely thorny: she's noticed that there's only one of each of the non-pony races present and that most of them have connections to their nation's leaders. So she's gotten to wondering: are they at the School to learn, or are they political hostages for Equestria to leverage?
And here's another great example of Ocellus being able to drama it up and show off why she's the smart one of the group. The situation's interesting not so much because of what Ocellus puzzles out but because of the reactions to it. Hers, Starlight's, and Twilight's - they're all interesting and deeper takes from those involved. Twilight's a real highlight because this is a great late season version of her: still idealistic but she's got enough experience to see the realities of what's going on and she isn't afraid of that.
Ocellus' role is a bit downplayed here versus the other story - she's the instigator but not the one primarily presenting things. But she does have probably the most important part: the reaction. It's saying a lot about her character not only in that she's the one to figure this out but how she handles the eventual revelations that Twilight drops on her. It's short, it's quick, but it's meaningful in how she understands both intent and reality. (I also appreciate the note about Silverstream - I'd actually been asking myself at the start what the actual literal royalty thought about the situation and it was good to see it addressed.)
In the end, this one's a little bit odd. There's some great character moments and some drama, but it's also much more pointed towards the reader. It's "Hey reader, have you ever thought about this?" and a lot of it feels like it's addressing you directly through the characters. I don't mean that as a bad thing! But you should go in understanding that. It's still a really interesting situation and a good read.
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Hm. That fic by Bonster has high traffic for an author who only wrote two stories (and the other, a longfic, hadn't even got managed views in almost eight years). And, while "question canon" fics can be very dubious in execution, often more so when it's about an objectively bad slip on the show writers' part, you're making it sound worth my time. Helps I like odd fics and won't be bothered by less character focus on the featured Student Six pony.
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I agree that a lot of such fics aren't terribly good - many of them fall into the realm of going "This is so obvious! Why don't the characters just do <X>?" which is a personal frustration of mine - but this one's a standout, I feel. It's a very reasonable question to ask and the characters treat it in a way that's both in character and reasonable. Unlike a lot of question fics (which I'd never thought of but that's a pretty good term for them) it never feels like it's suggesting the characters are dumb or foolish.
ooh, another day of a story getting recc'd by two reviewers in a row! :O
Because Sandbar losing his stuffed bear to a fireplace makes for the perfect tragedy