My Take On: Familiar -- by GaPJaxie · 3:17am Sep 30th, 2017
BEWARE: THIS HAS SPOILERS! READ AT YOU'RE OWN RISK!
This story had something in it that struck a chord with me, and inspired me to make this. This isn't really a review, per se, but more my take on it's more interesting parts that stuck out at me.
As I thought about what really stuck out to me, there was one thing that came to mind with this story: the utopia and Rainbow Dash. Let me go a little more in-depth with this.
First: the utopia. The universe the author created couldn't be described in any other way--in my opinion--than a utopia, a true utopia, not some lie that Rainbow Dash or the society at large is living in, as far as we know. Let's look at the facts that the story shows us about this world:
- No large-scale wars or conflicts--since the story didn't really go into detail about the world at large, I can only go with what the story does give me: the societal state. I'll go into more details below.
- Abundance of resources--this civilization obviously has an abundance--if not an overabundance--of goods and services if they are able to have a never-ending "Festival". But this has more to do than just the logistical and economic requirements of having a never-ending party, it's the societal ones that really stick out at me, because I think it lies at the center of the drive to have one, which leads to the other fact:
- Overall societal happiness--the story describes a society at large that is care-free, and that celebrates this. They are described at almost, if not every instance, in a state of at the very least contentment, and at the most euphoric. This isn't a society with worries over their society or the world at large. The mindset of this society--in my opinion--is an important foundation to what makes this society a utopia.
- Freedom--there isn't any stringent or otherwise unreasonable laws that are in place that the story tells us. This also reflects the state of the society as well, as whatever is the governing body doesn't feel it necessary to implement such laws. This isn't a society that has a governing body that dictates how life should be in order to be "perfect", the society itself seems to have come to some sort of conclusion as to how this state of utopia is to be maintained.
Huh, now that I've finished writing that down, I feel that I might've gone a bit overboard with the explanation. Oh well, onward!
Next point: Rainbow Dash. The thing that really stuck out at me was the stark contrast between the utopia and Rainbow Dash throughout the story. This is one of the big things that got me to think. At the risk of pointing out the painfully obvious, Rainbow Dash never thought that her familiar Cloudchaser would commit was is essentially assisted suicide. While really, in any kind of society, if your "familiar" that you had such a connection to, that was such a big part of your life, the way you went about your day factoring it in, committed suicide, you'd be distraught, to put it lightly. But, I think, this situation has even greater significance when in this utopia on the psyche. Notwithstanding the fact that Cloudchaser was crucial to Rainbow Dash's psychological recovery from childhood trust issues, the utopia at large, I would assume, would also have influence on Dash's psychological state. Think of it this way: Rainbow Dash has, for all intents and purposes, recovered from her trauma from her youth, and I would assume that what is essentially for the lack of a better term "utopian innocence" would take it's place as time went on, and as a consequence, would make Rainbow Dash take Cloudchaser for granted. Twilight Sparkle said herself "It’s very, very rare for [a familiar] to [commit assisted suicide] while their master still lives." It is practically unheard of; it was was very close, if not possible, for Rainbow Dash to fathom this ever happening. This would make the impact of this event all the more important.
The next thing, while not really as interesting, but still wish to talk about, was the behavior of Twilight Sparkle throughout the story. In the beginning, I thought of Twilight as just some ordinary run-of-the-mill service robot, such were her actions. They were certainly robot-like and seemingly emotionless--the behavior to me seemed as if they were just shallow, that there wasn't really any meaningful sentience, just programmed sub-routines and cold calculations and responses. When Rainbow Dash struck her, there was no meaningful response, just expressionless staring. But, obviously, my perception changes as the story goes on. The reader learns that all familiars are actually programmed to love and care for their assigned masters, and that familiars--including Twilight--can even have meaningful lives outside their service to their masters, although Twilight Sparkle seemed to make it clear that that wouldn't be a very big part of her time. It shows to the reader that Twilight Sparkle wasn't just some shallow machine after all, that there truly was more to her than meets the eye (no joke/reference intended here).
I could probably go on, but I feel that this is a good place to end it. I hope you enjoyed, and I might consider doing more than these, if time and willingness permit. If anyone that reads this want me to do more, I'm sure y'all know what to do ;) .
I really liked this!
Overall, I think it's a pretty solid look at the story, and it was nice to read about how your perceptions of Twilight changed as things went on. One thing that caught my eye particularly:
I quite liked this! Often, a sci-fi "utopia" is portrayed as a place of infinite material abundance, but the people are just as stressed, anxious, or unhappy as we can be in real life. While Rainbow Dash in this story has a significant set of emotional problems owing to her parents, the society as a whole is quite happy celebrating, and they've found the things that make them happy. That's what makes it a real utopia.
That's what was meant to be portrayed by the stallion making pancakes for everyone at the orgy. He doesn't feel any shame in saying that he likes weird kinky evening activities, and also likes being friendly and domestic. And why should he? That's what he enjoys, and that's the point of the eternal festival.