Chapter 6
Ponies noticed that Rarity was, on occasion, seen with a handsome griffon who played the saxophone. They noticed that sometimes, a unicorn with bugs for a cutie mark visited her home, and they drew the blinds. They noticed that Rarity started showing up to They Sing Cover Song’s performances when she was not otherwise inclined to live music.
“So,” Twilight asked, during one visit to Ponyville. They were having a wonderful time together, catching up and gossiping. “Is he your boyfriend?”
“Oh, no no,” Rarity waved Twilight off. “It’s not like that. He’s an admirer.”
“What does that mean?” Twilight asked. “An admirer.”
“It means he’s an artist,” Rarity said, after a long pause.
“So…” Twilight paused. “Do you like him?”
“Oh Twilight,” Rarity said, “I adore him. It’s just that I also hate him, and he drives me absolutely spare. It’s complicated, darling. It’s complicated.”
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Indeed! I'll readily admit myself that many of my own written works, fanfic or otherwise, typically started by looking at somebody else's work and thinking "hey, that's great...but what if I did that same thing but this way?" and it just snowballs from there. Honestly, I think there's no shame in that. After all, there's a big difference between "copying" and "inspired by."
Heck, I think it's kinda cool. The rare few times I've found a fic inspired by or knowingly borrowing the same idea as one of my own (they happen extremely rarely, mind you), I'm pretty much always down for it, because I'm immensely curious to see how they think to take it that I did not. And every now and then, I have to go "dang...that is a good idea...why wasn't I clever enough to think of that?"
There is a bit of a song and dance justifying it in the brains of all parties of course, as this fic well portrays, and everybody has to draw their own lines on what's going to be too much or too little, to settle on what they are most comfortable with...but we'd be lying to ourselves to think, let alone claim, that it doesn't still happen regardless.
In other news, I'm admittedly curious, since we're clearly not getting it in-fic...did Novelty ever reveal their natural changeling form to Rarity? Also, for clarity's sake, what is Novelty's actual gender? Since they were always appearing in disguise, I've been reluctant to assume one or the other as a precaution (despite those disguises more often than not favoring female, because that, for all I know, could've just been a statistical coincidence), given how touchy a subject that can be these days. I know the concept of a specified gender is probably a bit...loose...with changelings, but nevertheless, I am still curious if, again, just for clarity's sake.
God damn that was good.
There is nothing new under the sun is a saying at least 3000 years old. Cover songs all the way down.
A beautiful sentiment and well written
11041259
I'm glad you got what I was going for. In case it wasn't clear, this story was working out some of my own complicated feelings about fanfiction.
Yes, and Novelty is canonically female, though I see changelings as being a bit loose with concepts of gender in general.
Not the direction I expected this to go in, but now that I've finished reading it, I am very, very glad that it went that way. Kudos!
A crowd looks through a window. Each is different, but they all looked.
Even bands often cover themselves- if you have a chance, find a-ha's original "Take on Me" before the version that went big.
This was gorgeous. Pacing was just right to hit the emotional beats that it hit, which were good.
I will likely reread this at some point and maybe pay more attention to the characters' feelings about art specifically, but what I got out of this readthrough amounted to a short story about the developing relationship between two people. The relationship is unique and their feelings were vividly portrayed. I had fun.
More importantly to me in particular, they have a relationship which I can relate to better than almost all other fictional relationships that come to mind. It's not romantic exactly; it's something else, and that something else was a very intimate connection that stood on its own without reference to romance.
I suppose, when you really stop to consider things, we do all play cover songs.
From an editing perspective, it should only make sense that a work based on another work has the potential to be even better than the original, because, as Novelty said, you're further beautifying a framework that already exists. In fanfiction, we're able to bypass the tall order of creating characters and settings and developing them all from scratch. We instead use all that time and energy to depict scenarios, conversations, emotions, and feats done within that pre-existing setting that weren't explored before. But no matter how pristine the cover, fanfiction, or other homage is, it still only exists because it had that foundation to build upon. The tip of the pyramid is the one seen in awe piercing the clouds, but the only reason it's there is because the layers below it raise it up.
My feelings for fanfiction are that it's as legit a genre as any other, and deserves the respect that society does not currently, as a whole, give it. If cover music is a societal norm, why isn't fanfiction? Perhaps I'll live to one day see copyright laws and the nature of these proverbial cover songs get the dusting off and reanalysis they need in an internet-driven society.
Anyway, this was very thought-provoking and a stellar piece, even more so as an unedited piece.
Loved this fic. I really enjoyed seeing these two interact, and whilst I wish the fic had been longer, at least it ends well enough for them, even if I’m not entirely sure what kinda relationship they have – “friends with a complicated history”, I guess?
As for the original-art-vs.-derivative-works debate – I’ve always thought it would be the highest honor to make such an impact on other people else that they decide to use something I created as a template for their own take on it. The idea that someone else might want to make a cover version of one of my songs has always been a dream of mine, albeit likely one of the pipe variety. It’s hard to imagine anything more gratifying as a creative type than knowing you’ve inspired others. But of course, that’s just how I feel about it, and I’m sure there are as many different takes on the topic as there are artists.
Finally, I hope someday we can all agree that art is art, originality for its own sake is silly, and that anyone who thinks derivative works (fanfiction, homages, etc.) can never be as good or valuable as the original works, or that they are automatically cheaper or lesser, simply hasn’t seen enough of those works to appreciate how genuinely amazing they can be. It’s just a different kind of craft; what matters is the creative effort that goes into it, and the meaning and appreciation that its audience finds in it; anything else is irrelevant and leads to pointless gatekeeping.
This was an extremely touching piece, loved the dynamic of the two and thought the parent where Novelty described Rarity’s relationship with her parents was both cruel by incredible realistic.
Everything in inspired by something and our creative minds take the things that we love that try to make them our own. Fan fiction in its own is about take another’s work and building something new from it, the amount of new ideas and stories that have been created through fanfiction, especially in the mlp fandon, is a wonder to behold
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Fan creations are an interesting beast. For me that is especially true in this community. In my opinion the show is okay but not great, I'm generally not a fan of the community, and I'm outright ashamed of my interest for various reasons. Yet the consistent stream of high quality fan projects which I adore keeps me around. But why make a fan project? Instead of a small number of changes why not replace everything with something similar enough to support the changes you would otherwise make but still your own creation? For some, unlike me. you have a genuine love of the source material and community and want to wear that on your sleeve for your work of passion. For others this is a way to practice and hone your skills without needing to put in the work to create your own world and following from scratch as you strive to eventually move to more original works. For yet more people there are reasons I probably cannot understand. Or perhaps there is a mix of motivations. Regardless the result has been wonderful creations that have reliably captivated me.
Well this was a very interesting story and I can see her and Novelty are in good terms with each other sort of like neutral but they don't have anything against each other so that's good again this was a good story keep up the good work
A very thoughtful exploration of what it means to be Rarity.
Could someone translate "he/she drives me spare" for me? I found less than thirty instances on the Web, none with definitions, though I know how to translate it into Polish now!
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It means they can be very frustrating. Upsetting in a way that doesn't imply any actual hurt or emotional trauma.
Of course changelings are super emotionally aware. They're so amateurish at culture but they would really make the best diplomats.
I like how they're depicted as almost on the spectrum here, except good at reading emotions? Like how earth ponies are strong, pegasi are adventurous, changelings are good at fitting in, to a point. And all the jokes about the music.
I like how perspective is portrayed here. You can take it that Rarity doesnt respect her parents, or you can just say that they're oblivious to details that don't really matter and they're more in tune with emotion. Novelty kind of got the same deal, where her job was to notice everything, and what she makes of it is either a celebration or a corruption.
And interesting and enjoyable as usual; thank you for writing. :)
11041274
"In case it wasn't clear, this story was working out some of my own complicated feelings about fanfiction."
And I hope that it helped with that!
There's something here about Rarity's parents that maybe you didn't mean to put in, but it's there: they understand their children may be completely different people from them and they're perfectly good with that.
They're not upset with how Rarity turned out so different from the rest of the family, because they never wanted to make her a Xerox copy of themselves in the first place. It never even occurred to them to try. She's her own person. And if you'd told them that, they'd probably blink at you as if you'd told them water was wet: yes, and?
(Though--hm--if you HAD meant to put in, it would harmonize with the theme of duplication-versus-variation you've got going here)
Rarity's fault is not realizing the obverse of that reasoning: her parents are completely different from her. As they have every right to be. But in her defense she's younger than them and is still learning.
Lauren Faust is going to sit across from you one day and ask you to write an MLP story.
I can't believe I read this whole thing, actively thought about it because I know your stories are never as simple as they seem, and STILL never drew the obvious connection to fanfiction!
11042701
That would be lovely, but I doubt it! Maybe a bit of wish fulfillment in that particular part of this story.
We all sing cover songs here!
Do fan art of Changeling look better than canon show art of Changeling, Novelty?
11065832
They totally do. The design for reformed changelings was only so-so!
I just wanted to say that this was a really good musing on creation and creativity and transformative works. I liked the read.
11107734
We're all literary changelings.
Howdy, hi~!
Okay, this was *solid*. Loved the setup and how you characterized the incredibly problematic relationship between Novelty and Rarity. The idea behind using cover songs as a thematic analogy to the story was bloody brilliant. Everything was tight, and well made, and just, ugh, love it.
Thank you so much for the read~!
"Drives me absolutely spare", is a phrase that I've never heard before.
Mane 6: *develops Fighting is Magic, a fan fighting game*
Hasbro: *sends a cease and desist while Mane 6 are in the middle of developing Rainbow Dash*
Mane 6: *sad noises*
Lauren Faust, the creator of Friendship is Magic: *drives up to the Mane 6 team in a sports car with Arizona the cow in the passenger seat, and lowers the passenger window*
"Get in losers! We're making a fighting game with a different roster of characters!"
Mane 6: *gets into Lauren Faust's sports car*
Lauren Faust: *peels out, does 3 donuts in the parking lot, and speeds off to indie video game fame*
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Sometime during the 80's
Lauren Faust 6-8 years old: *loves MLP, but doesn't quite like the frequent girliness of tea parties in it, and wonders why it doesn't have more action and adventure like in the cartoons directed at boys*
Few decades pass
Late 2000's
Lauren Faust <REDACTED> years old: "That concludes my show pitch for Galaxy Girls! Thoughts?
Hasbro executive: "We like it, but we'd like you to work on this. *slides a folder across the table to Lauren Faust*
Lauren Faust: *picks up folder and opens it*
Folder: *single sheet of paper that says "4th reboot of My Little Pony"*
Lauren Faust: *calmly up from folder* "I'm in."
3 hours later after the meeting and getting home:
Lauren Faust: *excited "dream come true" dancing*
Lauren's husband: *excited "I'm happy for you" dancing*
Lauren's children: *dancing simply for the joy of dancing*