It Is Recommendsday, My Dudes #62 · 7:50pm May 25th, 2022
So a quick behind-the-scenes on this blog series: I keep two running bookshelves for it in the background. One is just an unorganized pile of things I've read that I enjoyed and am considering bringing up, while the other is a more specific staging area where I pair up compatible stories for later posting. I've usually got about three months worth in the staging area and draw from them as situation and mood demand, plus a few more that I'm keeping in my pocket for specific circumstances (like the blog's 1 year anniversary.)
Yesterday on review, I noticed that the current staging ground is rather heavy with foal-focused stories. So that made narrowing down the choices for this week easier! And it helps that the two this week are both by newer/underappreciated authors.
The longer piece to lead this week is Nocturnal Reverie's Unseen, Unheard.
Now we've all seen plenty of poor abused Scootaloo fics. Little chicken gets herself the short end of the stick a lot. So I'll admit right off the hop I initially ignored this fic because it seemed like deeply retreaded ground. And you know what? I was wrong and almost missed a great one.
The hook, on the surface, is that Pinkie Pie is heading to Baltimare to stage a party and cheer up some orphans because she's Pinkie Pie. As part of it, she brings Rainbow Dash (circa season 2) with her. And it's there she meets little orphan Scootaloo. But Scoots isn't just a lonely filly that can't fly in this story: she's deaf and blind as well.
Despite those problems - or perhaps a little because of them - Rainbow Dash falls totally in love with the plucky but withdrawn filly and begins the process to adopt her. But of course, that's not exactly simple.
What really sets this story apart from other Scootadopt fics is the heart that it has. Nocturnal puts a lot into showing that the process isn't simply a matter of 'sign here, take the kid' and that adoption is a fairly lengthy and involved process. Moreso than usual because of Scootaloo's disabilities, and punches aren't really pulled there either. But that's part of where it makes the characters shine.
Dash has to learn a new language and later help teach it to others. She has to renovate her house and reorient everything for a non-seeing child - there's like half a chapter dedicated just to her picking out furniture that's far more engaging and sweet than shopping has any right to be. And most importantly, so much of it is built around the bond between Dash and Scoots forming. Because poor Scootaloo's suffered plenty of rejection in her young life, and she doesn't trust easy. Nor does Rainbow Dash give up easily when she's got her heart set.
It isn't a quick fic, but the pacing is appropriate and needed to make it feel real. And it does. It's a tug on the heartstrings from all quarters and I wish I'd given it a chance sooner than I did.
The shorter one this week is Whatever I Shall Meet On The Road by first-time author astrolatryy.
This one's also an alt-u, though an established one: the Sombran War. In Canterlot, Rarity sews uniforms for the Equestrian soldiers on the front lines. Her little sister Sweetie Belle aids her sister in the shop where she can, but mostly spends time around the backstreets and outskirts - a child mostly ignored while the adults struggle. And in an abandoned commercial plaza, she runs into a scruffy, dirty orange pegasus about her same age. The two meet, have a brief conversation... and pass each other in the night, because this is a far different world.
It's a bleak story - no denying that. Astrolatryy does a great job of painting the dreary picture in short words, keeping it to the foal's perspective. It's a war story without battles, with two kids who could've been great but end up left aside while the world goes to hell around them.
Honestly, there's not a ton to say here beyond that - it's just a damn good story about a sad moment and two characters who get denied their lives because of the world's cruelty. I love the vibe on this one, and it really digs its claws in. It's one of those all too rare first stories that's wonderfully written and hits you strong in the gut.
New or catching up? Try Recommendsday: The Index for your story needs!
