I read and write in an attempt to figure out which questions and beliefs our little microcosm of a community holds. My verdict? I'm not saying.
In which the Princess of the Night and co-ruler of Equestria takes the second-person perspective, and has her way with it, because she knows just about as much as how you tick as you do about how she does. Because who better to talk about perspective than the pony that still uses the royal 'we' from time to time?
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
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I so wish I could upvote this story more than once...
Pretty much the only time 2nd-person narrative actually works is in role-playing games and Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books, where "you" are at least allowed to exercise some control over the outcome by making choices at various junctures. Otherwise, it's just cheap and lazy writing.
This fic is awesome.
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I wish I could provide the truckload of likes I want to give this story.
Sadly, I'll have to settle for one.
First-person-second-person-what-the-fuckiness?
I shall add to the upvote count by a number of '1', because that's all I can do.
I agree with what this is trying to say, but this is not a story. It's a rant pretending to be a story. Peel away the thin layer of "Princess Luna" and you'll find the author sitting the reader down to talk about a pet peeve. A pet peeve that I happen to share too. As a blog post this would be worthwhile reading, but don't twist fiction to stand on a soapbox.
I have no idea what this was about. I like it.
/10
Amazing.
I pat Princess Luna on the head consolingly: "I'm afraid you have received the wrong fanfic author, Princess; I don't write clop. But I see your point."
I sigh and flop backward on the bed, under what i expect to be the moon's glaring consternation, although I'm not looking at her. Clasping my arms behind my head as a makeshift pillow, I continue, "I too have written in second-person in my day, but it was not in effort to force an idea upon someone. Much as a great character might cause one to self-associate, not everypony is as imaginative as you."
I feel the princess shift on the bed. Even though I expect the worst, perhaps a hoof to the face or a scathing rebuke or a particularly painful spell, I continue to press my luck--since, after all, this will likely never happen again. "Second Person narrative constructs a premise that invites internalization. It is not like forcing oneself into the mindset of a third person character or even the first person of an established role that is distinctly not you. While second-person may not give 1:1 parity of experience with what one might actually do and what one might narrate, what it does is create a role that all but begs to be filled by the reader, whoever they are."
I finally sit up. We've long since passed the point where the princess' quantum entanglement cascade can reliably connect me to her world. Everything is fuzzy and dark, and I have to wonder if she can even hear me. Before me I see a cloud of all possibilities of what Luna *could* be doing now, and certainly she might be seeing a blur of all the anonymous bronies she might have accidentally summoned, as the syntax of her initial narrative rapidly decays following its closure. As the fuzzy dark encroaches and the rushing noise climbs to crescendo, I conclude. "They weren't writing to you, Princess. They were writing to everyone. Writing to me. Attempting to build a scene around the reader whom the character might actually be. I'm sorry you weren't nondescript enough to suspend disbelief--"
--And I awaken at my keyboard. My foot hurts, and so does my head. There's a big lump, there. Damn. I think I might need to stay in bed tomorrow...
A story in 2nd person... imperative tense.
Interesting...
Second-person has always been a strange beast for me. It feels more like an excuse to avoid writing one more character than an interesting narrative perspective, but at the same time I really can't deny the potential that can be explored with it.