Traitor, by Alara J Rogers

I recently had the privilege of reading one of the best expansions of a canon episode I've ever seen, namely Traitor by Alara J. Rogers, which is an expansion of Twilight's Kingdom -- told from Discord's POV.

Why is it so good?

First of all, by tacking Twilight's Kingdom from Discord's point of view, it manages to fill the major gaps in logic which exist in the original episode. Why does Discord decide to betray his friends (most obviously Celestia, Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle) in favor of an obviously-untrustworthy foe (Tirek)? What happens during Tirek and Discord's draining of the magic of Equestria, and how is this consistent with anything other than mass murder (in particular, why do the Wonderbolts survive -- essentially unhurt -- after being drained on the wing)? Why does Tirek let the Mane Six (and Spike and Discord) live after capturing them, when it's far from obvious beforehand that he will have any use for hostages? And why, after his treason, is Discord so readily forgiven -- both by Celestia and by the Mane Six?

These questions and others are all very adequately answered. I was struck by the similarity between what Alara J. Rogers did here and what I did in Nightmares Are Tragic -- in both cases there is an epic canon story with logical flaws or gaps in it (in Friendship Is Magic, most specifically why Celestia doesn't directly intervene and why Nightmare Moon seems to be holding back against the Mane Six, most notably at the climax) and the story was written in part to provide a logical answer to these questions, filling the gaps in the canon version. Like my story, Traitor is careful to stick to canon -- everything that was also shown onscreen happens in the story, and the added scenes are consistent with but additional to canon.

This takes advantage of one of the virtues of fanfic over the original show. Fanfic can go into the characters' heads, exploring their reasons for actions (Discord's fear of stasis, Nightmare Moon being a composite of Princess Luna and a possessing Night Shadow). It can consider reasons far too mature for the original series to address (Discord's romantic love for Celestia, Luna's romantic love for the memory of Dusk Skyshine who was an earlier incarnation of Twilight Sparkle). It can elaborate on or add scenes which were not shown or adequately explained in the original story (what Discord and the Mane Six were doing during Twilight's fight with Tirek, just exactly what Pinkie Pie was doing when she giggled at the ghosties). Alara J. Rogers promises to do this -- and she most definitely delivers.

A second very good point about Traitor is that everyone is in character. Celestia's balance between affection and formality (very important in relation to Discord, given that she once loved him but now can barely trust him); Discord's mixture of mischief and malice, alien aloofness and emotional vulnerability; Fluttershy's innocence and sweetness and manipulative intelligence, fundamental courage and perceptive sense of humor. Everyone is well-characterized, no one does anything out of character just because it would advance the plot.

A third point is that Traitor shows character growth, it shows the same sort of character growth as did the original episode, and it uses the broader and deeper viewpoint possible in written fanfic to elaborate on the reasons, nature and extent of this character growth. I can't go into too much detail here because it wold give away some of the plot points -- specifically in terms of realizations the characters come to about one another -- but it is very well handled..

Interestingly, despite the fact that Traitor is written from a very different deep-backstory perspective than my fanon (I go for Discord and the Alicorns being incarnate Cosmic forces, while Alara treats them as members of natural Kinds and species which have become the focus of local Cosmic forces, an important distinction because it means that Celestia and Luna actually had something like normal childhoods), I saw very little if anything in this story inconsistent with my own concept of the characters. I'm currently writing Divine Jealousy and the Voice of Reason, a tale in which Discord is a very important character, which takes place right between "Equestria Games" and Twilight's Kingdom -- and almost everything in Alara's story is consistent with my story (with the single exception that my Discord would have had one additional reason -- in his own mind -- to betray Fluttershy).

I seriously urge everyone to read Traitor -- both because it's a damned good and moving story (it made me cry at two points) and because it's an excellent example of how to do canon-filling in an adaptation of a canon episode right. Every scene she added has a good reason for being there: it's a very tight tale.

This is one of the best fanfics I've ever read.

Comments

[scoots2]

I'd agree. Traitor is very good.

[Andy Soshal]

Damn. Well, if Jordan says it's good, then good it must be! Starting to read now!