Everfree Northwest Fanfic Spotlight 8 · 6:11pm May 29th, 2014
Welcome back for the eighth edition of the Fanfic Spotlight!
As I sat down to review and select stories for this week's issue, I couldn't help but feel cheerful. We've had several weeks of warm, sunny weather here on the edge of the Cascades in Central Oregon, and a wonderful cool front came in today with a lovely breeze and some nice afternoon showers. On a personal front, I've dug through most everything on my to-do list, I have several exciting things coming up soon, I've been having a great time with friends lately, and I was sipping a glass of some truly excellent cider. But my brain gets bored easily, and demands contrast, so it's insisted on a quartet of sad stories, because a bright, crisp spring day wouldn't be complete without a sucker punch to the limbic system!
So yes, we're doing another theme-week, this time of four sad-yet-hopeful stories: Spike learns that history doesn't always remember the little things; an elderly Pinkie is Tired, but still smiling; Twilight optimizes the apocalypse in a series of perfect Moments; and Celestia keeps a sobering list of Statistics.
I Need You To Be Brave
by MidnightDancer
Words: 3,066 Complete: Yes
This story is one of reflection, and of loss, as a much older-but-still-young Spike looks back on the friends he's known. This story is fairly simple, but I think it does an amazing job capturing Spike's frustration, realizing that history will remember Twilight and his other friends merely as figures in their history books, not their little quirks and who they really were. Despite the melancholy mood for most of the story, there's a warmly upbeat finale to it as well. Take twenty minutes, and go get your first dose of feels here.
Tired
by Ebon Mane
Words: 7,033 Complete: Yes
Another one-two-punch to the feels with this one, as an elderly Pinkie Pie catches up with old friends. The writing here is excellent, if a bit unusual for first person Pinkie. Personally, I like it, as fifty-plus years should change everypony, Pinkie included. The idea that she's calmer and more formal at times in her speech is a great touch in my opinion. The author also does an excellent job in providing completely believable, aged, and mature versions of the other characters as well. All are still quintessentially themselves, yet time has taken its inevitable toll, for better and for worse. Like all the stories this week, it is sad, but hopeful as well.
Moments
by Bad Horse
Words: 8,326 Complete: Yes
"Practice makes perfect. And Princess Twilight wants everything to be perfect. Especially the end of the world." That's the story's own description, and I couldn't give a better summary without spoilers. What I really love about this story is how it so perfectly captures the essential nature of Twilight Sparkle, and what makes her a hero. Many other stories show her overcoming her overly-analytical tendencies in order to save the day, yet "Moments" does just the opposite, highlighting those very same "flaws" and treating them as the strengths they truly are, and leaving Twlight to handle the apocalypse as only she ever could. And it is a beautiful thing to behold.
One should note this is essentially three different stories in one. The first chapter is/was a stand alone story. Reading the rest of the chapters changes that into something new. Then the final "Afterword" changes it one more time. I'd suggest you take a moment to pause and reflect at each of those points before reading on, in order to fully appreciate each independently.
Statistics
by xTSGx
Words: 1,042 Complete: Yes
Rounding out our week of Summer Feels, our Community Choice comes from Super Trampoline and managed a weirdly interesting feat that probably set my brain down the path to this week's theme in the first place. What feat you may ask? Well, as I sat here on this beautiful day, feeling totally cheerful, this story managed to make me shed a tear over what is basically just a bunch of numbers. Normally statistics hide the emotional impact of major events like war, disaster, or even unemployment. They're the mask hiding the true face of those affected. This story however, manages to use them to the opposite effect, and by merely providing a long list of statistics, engenders a major emotional impact.
That's it for this week. Last week's edition can be found here. As always, keep posting stories for the community spotlight below, as well as any other thoughts you have. I promise I'll find some more cheerful content for next week as well!
Until then, go have some fun, fun, fun in the sun, sun, sun!
--Xepher
That feel when all three of the books not recommended by you are on your read later list, but you are afraid of the feels.
2158230 "Afraid of the Feels" would make an awesome song title. But yes, I know what you mean. I can only take sad-fic in small doses like these.
What's worse is being afraid to WRITE because of the dangerous feels. The muse came and smacked an idea into my head a couple of months ago, and I'm dreading writing it because it's going to be so horribly sad. I can't not do it either, like some of my prereaders have suggested, because that'd just be untrue to what I know the story has to be. So I feel like I'm in one of those Saw movies, except it's my own muse forcing me to do something horrible to characters I love, and there's no way out of it. I think I'm really starting to understand why writers are known for heavy drinking.