EDistance Beyond Any Measure

• MLP: FiM
• Equestria Girls
• Drama
• Sad

How do you tell a child that she will never be enough?

• Celestia
• Philomena
• Cadance
• Sunset Shimmer

Ice Star · 9.7k words  ·  148  12 · 2.6k views

I never really know how to introduce these. Whatever.

Today we’re going to be having a look at Ice Star’s Distance Beyond Any Measure, a fascinating story about the early days of Sunset Shimmer and Cadance. This story was very engaging and a fun read overall, and it’s not surprising to find that it’s been an EQD feature.

Before we dive in I suppose I should address the expectations I had when selecting this story. I thought this would be about Cadance and her journey to alicornhood under Celestia’s guidance, and while this was a plotpoint of the story, the meat of it sat with Sunset Shimmer. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, but it is rather very interesting how the description of the story can tie into not just Cadance, but Sunset as well. Let’s hit it.

The story is told anthology-style, meaning that not every chapter is a direct continuation of the previous chapter. Furthermore, the story is non-linear in that not every event happens consecutively. I’ll circle around to these two points later.

The story is about Celestia before the arrival of Twilight, in a time when Sunset Shimmer is her Faithful Student and she has just acquired Cadance. The plotline then follows snapshots of their lives, with Celestia as the central character.

Let’s get into some analysis. The story doesn’t answer a lot of questions, such as why Cadance became an alicorn or even what purpose Celestia selected her for. Now I don’t think the story was ever meant to answer these questions, so they may be excusable, but I do feel it poses a lot and leaves a lot of open ends.

This being said, I’m sadly at a bit of a loss as to what the central point of this story is. A lot of elements are touched on: that of Nightmare Moon and the prophecy of Twilight, for example, but beyond that the story really feels more of a character analysis of Celestia and how she goes about dealing with Sunset’s rebellious nature and Cadence's inherent innocence.

And that being said, if this is the nature of the story it’s done well. I just have a hard time nailing down in one sentence what the story is actually about, other than Celestia’s daily life. But I wouldn’t call it a weak point of this work, even if readers wanting a coherent story may be left slightly confused.

I say this because a lot of the story left me wondering “so what?” Cadence’s innocence is touched upon and makes Celestia feel something, but the emotion isn’t quite explicit, instead much of Chapter Two is spent in Celestia’s head as she struggles with the weight of her position.

I want to go back to the points I made about non-linear and anthology-style storytelling. I find that this story may not really benefit from the non-linear nature and it feels strange to add it into this work. It’s quite clear the story does not occur chronologically because Chapter Three talks about Sunset running away through the mirror and Cadence's wedding, but chapters four and five have them both as fillies again.

I’m not too sure why this occurred. By the second chapter I was already expecting time skips but the third time skip was very drastic, and the sudden return to the past felt somewhat jarring. Plus, I don’t think the story really benefited much from this: in fact, I’m wondering if it would end on a stronger note if it was told in chronological order, with the final scene being Celestia staring into the mirror.

But I suppose this is the author’s choice. However, I’m of the opinion that the author is actually able to move the chapters around into chronological order and walk away with the same story. If there was an underlying point to the passage of time in this story it is lost on me. 

For all my whining about the plot of the story, the character development was very very strong. I loved how the author wrote everyone, from Celestia to Sunset to Cadence. Each character was unique and different, and the way they clashed and reconciled was brilliantly done.

That being said, one point I can make is that I don’t feel that Celestia really reacts to anything in this story. She keeps a level head and a mask of calm on for pretty much the entire story, even when she stares through the mirror that took Sunset from her.

Now all of this can be justified. Celestia has, as the story says, been doing this for years, and years have passed for her to cope with losing Sunset so it may be understandable for her to not react to seeing the mirror. But… I don’t know, I was just looking for something in Celestia, but she remained much of the same throughout the story.

That isn’t a weak point necessarily because this calmness in the face of Sunset’s anger works very well, and I could still feel the love and care she had for all of the characters. There just wasn’t any impact from her specifically. Regardless, the development was well done all around.

One thing that showed up in my notes was the occasional contradictory nature of some sentences. For example,

To be entirely honest – something that often felt uneasy even within the privacy of her own thoughts – Celestia had no idea exactly what she was supposed to do with Mi Amore Cadenza in the long run. At least, not concretely. She wasn’t a Faithful Student, but she would need to learn magic. However, she wouldn’t be able to have the dual classes at Celestia’s school that every Student had. After all, Mi Amore Cadenza didn’t have unicorn magic and she was too old compared to a normal attendee. Even if she had unicorn magic teachable to the school, poor Mi Amore Cadenza would find herself left behind diving into such a strict education so suddenly.

She would be a fool to ever pass up on the chance to shelter this filly, who would be such a target for danger without her. Not accounting for particularly troubling domestic situations, there was no nation that would not look upon the teenager as useful in ways much less kindly.

In this passage, the first paragraph seems to acknowledge that Celestia is not sure what she’s going to do with Cadance. She talks about how Cadance doesn’t have enough to be a student and doesn’t fulfill the prophecy. Yet in the second paragraph, she claims she’d be a fool to pass her up. That leaves the question of ‘why?’ since the previous paragraph seems to be building an argument against this point.

I’ll make a brief point here about something I’ve been noticing in other stories, that may just be a personal thing. In lines like

Her knowledge of its nature was useless, and despite the increasingly secure places she locked it.

The ‘and’ in the sentence implies that there’s a natural continuation. For example “I went to the store to buy fruits, and I met my friend on the way home,” or “He knew a lot about the history of Mongolia, and despite claims otherwise, he was quite skilled in his field.”

So it feels like this sentence is missing something. I’m left with “and what?” since there isn’t a continuation after the ‘and’ phrase, and to me it reads like a sentence fragment because I’m expecting more. 

Perhaps it’s just me. I don’t know.

I noticed a few typos that I will gladly point out to the author should they like me to.

It may not seem like it from this review but I did really like this story. The development of all of the characters was strong and I love this interpretation of Celestia and the others. My biggest concerns lay with the nature of the story telling, which isn’t even that hard of a fix if the author wants to address it.

The heart of the story really does address that dreaded concept of growing up while playing on the nostalgia of youth, and I think the selected characters really embody that: we have Celestia, who’s been around forever, Cadence, who’s still young and innocence, and Sunset, who’s about to and expected to cross that threshold into adulthood.

Overall? This was a very great story that’s going in my favorites shelf, despite my minor nitpicks with it. Great work to the author!

Next time (maybe today even) we’ll be looking at the sequel to Potato Dog, Apple Bread by TheLegendaryBillCipher. Maybe I’ll even get the character names right this time!

Deuces. 

If you like deep character pieces about Celestia, or are curious about Cadance or Sunset in their youth, I’d highly recommend you this story. 

I do apologize for running this through the shredder, and don’t get me wrong I really did like it! A lot of what you’re doing here feels so subtly intentional, yet I can’t help but feel I missed many of the subtleties. Should you have a reason for the non-linear nature of the story then I will gladly concede my point to you. Great work! 

I do have my reading notes for your fic, if you would like to see them let me know.

Plot: 7
Characterization: 9
Grammar: 8

Average: 8

Lacklustre could have written it better

7257807

Hey so I don't know who that is and I'm not going to make comparisons between authors as to "who could have wrote this better" because I believe every author can take a story in a different direction! Thanks.

7257820
Lol, Lacklustre is an alt-account by the author

7257859
Ahahaha ignore me then! :P

7257802

I thought this would be about Cadance and her journey to alicornhood under Celestia’s guidance, and while this was a plotpoint of the story, the meat of it sat with Sunset Shimmer. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, but it is rather very interesting how the description of the story can tie into not just Cadance, but Sunset as well.

This was completely intentional.

Now I don’t think the story was ever meant to answer these questions, so they may be excusable, but I do feel it poses a lot and leaves a lot of open ends.

That is correct.

This being said, I’m sadly at a bit of a loss as to what the central point of this story is. A lot of elements are touched on: that of Nightmare Moon and the prophecy of Twilight, for example, but beyond that the story really feels more of a character analysis of Celestia and how she goes about dealing with Sunset’s rebellious nature and Cadence's inherent innocence.

You nailed it there! Though, there is also the matter of Celestia's distance, but you mention that later.

I’m not too sure why this occurred. By the second chapter I was already expecting time skips but the third time skip was very drastic, and the sudden return to the past felt somewhat jarring. Plus, I don’t think the story really benefited much from this: in fact, I’m wondering if it would end on a stronger note if it was told in chronological order, with the final scene being Celestia staring into the mirror.

But I suppose this is the author’s choice. However, I’m of the opinion that the author is actually able to move the chapters around into chronological order and walk away with the same story. If there was an underlying point to the passage of time in this story it is lost on me.

The fifth chapter was a later edition for Equestria Daily. For the original four, I hated how they read in chronological order. It was neat, hitting all the expected notes, and boring. Everything about it was measured in a way just like how the reader would expect. When I shuffled them up, I ended up with more layers to peel away and could deliver the information differently. It became a much more emotionally effective piece. Sunset Shimmer also symbolically (and literally) gets the last words in both the original four-chapter version and the present one. Both of her original last words are nails in the coffin that the mirror chapter wouldn't give. If the mirror chapter were the last one, the emotions would slowly peter off. The layers exploring how Celestia treats the two children (or, neglects them if you prefer) would not have been presented as well. The last line would also not be a twist of the knife as it currently is.

But… I don’t know, I was just looking for something in Celestia, but she remained much of the same throughout the story.

This is totally intentional too! Show-don't-tell, etc etc. I mean, it's also a story called Distance Beyond Any Measure about a character whose emotional distance and desire to remain immaculate in that way inadvertently leads to relationships in her life being ruined and subtly explores that she also has a fundamental disconnect from understanding those around her.

In this passage, the first paragraph seems to acknowledge that Celestia is not sure what she’s going to do with Cadance. She talks about how Cadance doesn’t have enough to be a student and doesn’t fulfill the prophecy. Yet in the second paragraph, she claims she’d be a fool to pass her up.

I figured that this would be implied in some way, or that it might have been mentioned somewhere else. Cadance is still fundamentally useful, but not what Celestia wants. If I gave you a Swiss Army Knife but you wanted a glass of iced tea, you still have something that you can use and isn't worth throwing away, but it sure as hell isn't what you needed. I'm sure there's way better object comparisons I could have used to try to make that more effective, but this is what came to mind.

So it feels like this sentence is missing something. I’m left with “and what?” since there isn’t a continuation after the ‘and’ phrase, and to me it reads like a sentence fragment because I’m expecting more.

Aww shit, this might have been something that actually was only half-edited in the EqD revision. I'll go fix that right up.

I noticed a few typos that I will gladly point out to the author should they like me to.

Yes, please. If there are any still remaining in there - and I'm not sure how - I want them gone. Gosh, I really had thought I caught them all. It's possible that they might not be typos but part of me just using weird vocabulary - I've had that happen before; where people thought something was a typo.

The heart of the story really does address that dreaded concept of growing up while playing on the nostalgia of youth, and I think the selected characters really embody that: we have Celestia, who’s been around forever, Cadence, who’s still young and innocence, and Sunset, who’s about to and expected to cross that threshold into adulthood.

This is an incredibly unusual take on the story. I didn't intentionally put any of those as themes in there, and I'm surprised that anyone came away feeling that way. Cadance is also older than Sunset in the story (they're like 14 and 12, respectively). Cadance is just a nice bean.

I do have my reading notes for your fic, if you would like to see them let me know.

I would totally be interested in this. Feel free to PM them to me or leave them in a comment on the story.
7257820
LackLustre is indeed my alt. I put garbage on it. Hence the name.
7257807
I'll be skinning you alive at some point.