Story Reviews » SA: Round 176 · 11:49pm Aug 30th, 2020
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Floydien came to in the dark. He was strapped into a chair of some kind, but only by normal restraints. His arms were free. Ahead of him, he saw bright display lights and—
“HOW ARE WE IN SPACE.”
The chair in front of him shifted as Cyne looked over her shoulder and grinned. “Oh, we probably aren’t! My working theory is that our prolonged isolation within the infinite Seattle’s Maze is starting to warp our very understanding of reality, enabling us to cycle matter, even rebuild it at will, kind of basically making us Gundam-style Newtypes, but for subterranean dyson-sphere size mazes instead of space.”
“What?”
“Oh, we’re kind of apotheozing in slow motion. It’s honestly boring as heck. Anyway, enjoy the view! We’re assaulting A Bao Qu alongside White Base!”
Floydien gripped the edges of her seat, realizing that he was in some kind of… cockpit? Were they flying something? A space fighter? Or— “What is happening??”
“Oh, you’ll see! There’s like, two people who are gonna love this!”
ROUND 176
A stallion cheats on his wife. He does not wish to, but he must.
This story is pretty brutal.
I love when a writer can take our knowledge and use it against us, leveraging the certain future. We know, for instance, what happens with the Changelings and such in Canterlot. We have the privilege of having a long view. So we know what happens to our protagonist in the long run.
And yet, as much as it matters, it isn’t the worst part. It’s just a spice on the already tragic situation of a man whose life is defined by need and neglect. He is trapped in a vice without any real hope. This is some Russian-lit levels of misery. Absolutely recommend it.
This has one of the best openings I’ve read in a long time. Every word in it, and the rest of the piece, has a certain purpose and utility, serves its surface function and then some. That this is just over 2000 words is a testament to the author’s ability and grasp of the moral complexities of love and relationships.
We see inside the mind of someone who is so utterly alienated from himself and from others, and yet there is a certain grain of truth and identity in the narrative that speaks to all of us. Do yourself a favor and read this.
When the dusters wiped out Applejack's orchard and the economic collapse, Rarity's business, bank robbing started to look like a pretty appealing career choice.
Neither really thought they'd become the greatest crime duo in history, however.
There’s something really entrancing about criminals and their stories, be they romanticized dashing figures or grimy crawlers. We like the appearance of their freedom, even as we secretly know there’s nothing free in chaos. We are lured in by the warm light of adventure. This story really delivers on that promise, and feels like a classic story in that vein. The realities of the world projected here are fascinating and fun, with the two titular characters bouncing off each other in a way that just had me grinning throughout.
I’m a sucker for westerns, and the Rarity / Applejack combo—the femme fatale and the brutish outlaw—works incredibly well in this story, naturally playing off each other in a fun, cheeky sort of way. Even in this world, Belle and Cortland still are very much the characters we know and love, and this relationship is the crux and highlight of this story.
That said, there is so much organic worldbuilding deftly woven into the scenes here that you can almost see this fic play out in your mind’s eye. Little hints of this universe that are blink-and-you-miss-it moments but raise interesting questions about what, exactly, happened with society at large here, which elevates the story from good to great.
Fluttershy contemplates her unrequited love for Rarity in her old age, and thinks about all the things that resulted in the two of them being apart.
If I had to say one thing about this story, it would be that its prose is powerful, even elegant at times. This story wanders and is not perhaps the fastest paced, but honestly? It works really well. The space to just savor the prose is welcome. This story is worth reading over an evening--it’s how I read it--with some breaks between and tea. It’s engaging, occasionally funny, sometimes sad, and always introspective in that way I love.
I’ll admit, it took me a little while to warm up to this story. It is somewhat outside my normal reading, genre-wise, but I am very glad I stumbled across this. It’s a beautiful, fragile, melancholy look at love, life, and mortality told through the eyes of a much older Fluttershy. This is somewhat uncommon in and of itself; in these sorts of stories where any of the main characters are aged appreciably, Fluttershy is often out of the picture completely, because she is seen as weak or frail or simply unworthy of a character study.
But this story truly works, and it delivers a strong message to boot.
This is not a fic that is easily binged in one go, but rather, as Cyne said, is thought-provoking and intense. There is a certain something in the writing, the actual prose itself, that makes you want to keep going, even while it gets harder and harder to read. Give this a read when you are looking for something a little more low-key and down to earth.
In the last days of Twilight Sparkle's life, her daughter Glitter tries to make sense of her death.
I actually read this story before it came out. When I read it then and when I read it now, again, for this review… The emotion that wells up in me is the same. I cannot stress enough that Regidar has captured in this story a feeling of loss that is so hollow that it disturbs the heart. I leaned back on the loveseat after reading this. I stared up at the ceiling and had to actually reorient myself in my own life and in my own material conditions, because Regidar had pulled me into an event horizon. We’ve written so much about loss. I’ve written so much about loss. It’s a thing humans will write about until we invent a way to cheat death forever. Our writings offer solutions to the Problem of Death, and that’s fine, but it isn’t why we read.
This story is one you should read because it fulfills what I believe is the real purpose of writing about loss. It forces you facefirst into the stream of human life and makes avoiding the teeming mass of humanity around you impossible. This is what it feels like to lose someone and to be lost in turn. Recognize it. Revel in it and understand it, so that you can understand what it is like to not be this way. Please read this.
All four stories this round focus on love in some respect. This particular story focuses on a daughter’s love for her mother, a partner’s love for their partner, and an individual’s love for life, in all its unabashed and naked glory: the good with bad, the beautiful with the ugly, and the joy with the misery.
It hits remarkably close to home, perhaps too close; there is a persistent rawness and angst that you cannot help but be aware of at all times in this story, so much so that it hurts to read at certain points. If you’ve been there, then you know. If you haven’t been there, then you are blessed.
This is, through and through, a character piece, and it accomplishes what it sets out to do incredibly well, but there is more to this story than that. Worldbuilding, humor, poetry, and just enough questions to leave you wanting more.
“And here we are!”
With a triumphant smile plastered over her face, Cyne spun around in her chair and leaned forward. “What did you think?”
To describe Floydien’s current state as ‘catatonic’ was perhaps a stretch, but having your mind blown by complete and utter confusion did tend to have that effect.
“What did I think?” he repeated.
“Well,” said Cyne, not unkindly, “we did just have an incredible odyssey through space, time, and the fabric of the universe as we know it, calling into question several previously indisputable axioms regarding the nature of life and the implications of mechatronic development for personal gain!”
A blink. “Uhhh—”
“Ah well, what can you do?” Cyne pulled a conspicuously-placed lever that Floydien didn’t recall seeing earlier, lowering their chairs through the floor down into a very ordinary apartment kitchen. “Lunch?”
Another blink. “...Sure.”
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Especially good picks this week
I can't recommend Regi's story enough. Honestly, all the picks this week are fantastic.
Except I haven't gotten to Gara's story yet oh fuck oh heckHahaha those openers + closings never get old
Much thanks to this round’s reviewers! You summed up these stories (and why we should read them) beautifully. 
Another day, another dollar.
Starving heart was my personal favorite from this batch. Although Belle and cortland was pretty enjoyable as well.
Thanks your insights and story selections guys!