falling//in reverse

by The Red Parade

sept//one

“There’s a picture I saw a while ago,” Braeburn said as he poked at his salad.

Soarin looked up from a mouthful of pie. “Hm?”

“It showed this weird shape that looks sort of like a pony, except its upside down.”

“Really? What does it mean?”

Braeburn shrugged. “Dunno. I asked the artist, and they said it was some commentary about life. And how we’re always moving forwards and stuff. Never lookin’ back.”

Soarin chewed on his food in thought. “That’s interesting.”

“Yeah. He said the piece was called Falling in Reverse. Because that’s what it represents, a pony on their deathbed looking back on their life, wonderin’ if they did enough.”

Soarin set his fork down and glanced at Braeburn. “... why are you bringing this up?”

“Well… Soarin, where do we go from here?” he asked nervously. “You’ve gotta get back on your tour, I’ve gotta tend to the farm… how’re we gonna make this work?”

Soarin reached out and took Braeburn’s hoof in his own. “Hey, calm down. We’ll figure it out, alright?”

“...how do you know for sure?”

“Because we’ve got all the time in the world to get through it,” Soarin replied. “Trust me.”

Braeburn exhaled. “I do.”

“Alright,” Soarin said with a smile. “I love you, Brae. Forever and always.”

“Yeah. Forever and always.”

Comments

[wishcometrue]

I'm a lazy hack so here's my comment from the original speedwrite:

This story is stunning, Red. Holy shit.

I think the whole telling it in reverse thing was the right choice. It took this from a good sadfic to this great like, mystery at the beginning, and then as it goes on it becomes even more devastating because you know how things end but you have to read these characters having not suffered yet... God, it's so good! Damn!

Anyways, this story made me cry in its original form, and it made me cry again today. Great stuff.

[The Red Parade]

10350309
Thanks wish! <3

[Snow Quill]

I think this is even better now with the changes you’ve made. The story of a humble painting painted with love and the ponies it connected... Beautiful. Great job Red!

[The Red Parade]

10350364
Thanks Snow!

[Vis-a-Viscera]

Really good mystery fic, man. Especially in terms of you working up the early scenes like I said. It's a joy to read, then and now.

[The Red Parade]

10350491
Thanks, glad you liked it!

[Silent Whisper]

How dare you make me feel emotions again, Red? These are unauthorized feels.

Seriously, it's so good, and your writing is just... *chef's kiss* amazing!

[The Red Parade]

10350854
>:3

Glad you liked it!

[TheLegendaryBillCipher]

Great job as always, Red. It was a very interesting way to frame a story. Nice job.

[The Red Parade]

10354065
Thanks Bill! Glad you liked it!

[daOtterGuy]

Howdy, hi!

Damn, I loved this. A story told in reverse is really interesting, but certainly, a difficult feat to pull off. However, you really nailed it here. I loved the opening of the painting, the going back through its history to tell this tragic story about Soarin and Braeburn. It really tugged at the heartstrings.

Honestly, the whole thing is just a really interesting concept. You know the ending, you know how everything results, the ending gives you the beginning and it puts everything into context. The painting is this framing device for telling a romantic story and hitting those same notes of tension in a story like this, but well *in reverse*.

The whole thing is just incredibly interesting in execution. Awesome work.

[Miro MM]

My god I cant explain how much I love stories like this, being a fan of very surreal and experimental movies. I always love it when a writer challenges that and makes a story that includes ponies (lol, I don't know how to word it that great) But yeah I loved this, great job