It Is Recommendsday, My Dudes #87 · 10:35pm Nov 16th, 2022
So a month ago I mentioned that I'd put up a few topic sets to select from and had a couple friends suggest which one I'd grab. And I said I'd do the other ones that were requested later. Well, it's later.
So this set is one of the odder themed pairings: Rarity and plants.
To likely few people's surprise (as when I proposed the topic this one was immediately guessed) the first is Symbiosis by Silent Whisper.
It is the future - long after the Eternal Night brought a food crisis to Equestria. The ponies adapted, giving both themselves and the plants a chance by developing a symbiotic relationship: the line between pony and plant has blurred. Rarity bears a beautiful winding ivy plant, eternally walking the circuit around a ring in the stars. She has to walk - they all have to. They have to keep up with the light and stay in the sun. Falling behind and into the darkness means death of pony and plant. So the herd walks an eternal circuit to stay in the sun.
So I've rewritten that summary several times, and it still doesn't feel like it does the story justice. Because above all else, this one is just so evocative. Silent does an amazing job with building the alternate universe world in just a handful of paragraphs, and the whole thing just sings. I'm generally a fan of theirs, but they really knocked this one out of the park - it's hard to build a world in such a short time, let alone one so vibrant.
The story itself is a delicious tragedy - Roseluck's situation, Rainbow Dash's horror, Rarity's resignation. It takes the weird, alien world that's been built and inserts drama into the horror. And it's not even so much about the actual events as it is the line that Rainbow draws in the proverbial sand and is brought up in the early parts of the narration: at what point are they even Equestrian anymore?
(A special note here as well for the sequel by the similarly talented Seer: Sol Invictus. It is an equally powerful counterpart to Symbiosis and if you read one, you really have to read the other.)
The other is a... I'm tempted to call it less serious, but perhaps less dire is the better term. Either way, it's the talented BlazzingInferno with The Root of the Problem.
The story opens with Rarity having tea with Spike. This is not an unusual situation, though Rarity is excited because a brand new tea she ordered has arrived: an extravagant and elusive blend from far-away Minotauria. She has her first sip just as Applejack and Twilight burst in to stop her. There's been a mix-up in packages: Applejack got the tea. Twilight got Applejack's fertilizer. Rarity has just drank a rare sample of a plant Twilight was researching with an unusual defense-slash-reproductive mechanism. And now unless they find a cure soon, Rarity is going to turn into a plant.
She is, of course, horrified. But there's nothing to be done but wait as her friends scramble to try and save her. Well. Wait and stick her hooves in a planter of dirt. Just her, the dirt, and Spike to keep her company.
So, Sparity fics are tough to do. On one hand, the pair has fairly laid out chemistry so they're a popular set. On the other, there's a lot of problems - the age gap, the maturity gap, Rarity's frequent abuse of Spike's feelings, and so on. Most of the good Sparity fics just ignore the faults or make significant character changes to render them irrelevant (Spike is an adult the same age as Rarity, it all happens years forward in time, the author just ignores everything, etc) which often seems to be a significant deviation in who they are. This one doesn't, yet does still manage to be a good example of the ship.
Spike in particular is a star here - while Rarity has her role, Spike shows off why he's an equal to the rest of the crew. He's brave, selfless, and caring. A lot of Spike-centric stories with the Comedy tag just use him as a punching bag, and while this one does have a jab at the end? He spends most of it acting the hero.
To note as well, this story takes off with the second act twist. The first half is good and all, but the second part (while a bit short) puts a different spin on everything that adds an extra dimension. I didn't see the twist coming at all, and it's what made the story memorable. The extra dimension is what took the fic from good to great, in my opinion.
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That second one has a great example of how to write an eye-catching description. :D
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It really does!
Thanks for the review! Funnily enough I think Starlight got some of the best lines in that one
This is the first time I've come across a fic I've already read in one of your Recommendsday posts.
Symbiosis is one of my all-time favorite one-shot fics, and it's what got me to follow Silent Whisper and read a lot of their other fics (they're all so good!!). I have to admit I didn't like Sol Invictus as much, as it didn't feel as deep or nuanced as Symbiosis, but it's good nevertheless.