Symmetrical thoughts · 8:07am Jan 16th, 2023
Recurring Symmetry is a lot of firsts. It's my first one-shot over five thousand words, first G5 fic, and first fic where I've engaged with the wider Fimfiction community. It has also spurred me to try and clean up my grammar, a difficult notion I won't lie. I can't say it's perfect, but I'm trying (with help) and anything noticed would be of great aid.
The whole thing was inspired by a myriad of things. The few 'Argyle is Twilight Sparkle's descendant' theories and fics began the initial plot bunny, but it never truly gained a spark of life until (one idle shift at work) I pondered “What if Argyle had gone on the adventure to restore magic, not Sunny?” After that things really started to gain traction. I was adamant though that this would be a sad fic. Whilst I tend to do darker work, this was my first attempt at a true tragedy, something to tug at the heartstrings. I'm a bit of a romantic at heart, and a noble self-sacrifice is my jam. To keep the thematic tone my musical choices reflected this, I listened to Taylor Swift's 'Midnight' album a lot, focusing heavily on 'Maroon', 'Anti-Hero', and 'You're on your own kid'. I don't normally listen to her, yet after catching 'Anti-Hero' on the radio a few times it gave me a definite vibe that tied into Argyle losing his world and sacrificing it all for Sunny. Similarly, Hikaru Utada's 'Sanctuary fit perfectly, the dreamy tone and lyrics fitting the story perfectly. Oddly her 'Simple and Clean' and 'Ray of Hope' remixes entered the mix frequently, probably because they feel upbeat. Despite the darkness in the story that's what the end goal really is, moving forward to a better world.
This is funny actually because in some way Argyle's world was better. He'd achieved so much more with his status as an alicorn than Sunny could, but such heights come with lows. In this case their methods of dealing with Opaline were their own undoing. Opaline herself was a joy to write, I love sassy, snarky villains. You don't get more hammy in G5 than Opaline who practically chews the scenery every time she's on screen. Sure she's a tad cliché, but what villain isn't? Despite that I wanted to humanise her a tad, too much of the discourse around her is tied into her emotionally abusing Misty which wasn't what I was going for here. I maintain that to raise a child from infancy you have to care at least somewhat, in this case Opaline certainly cared. The problem comes with Misty getting to the age where her mother stops seeing her as 'Child' and more 'Minion'.
Speaking of mothers, Phyliss was interesting to add to Argyes mirror Mane 5. I needed an acidic, vaguely antagonistic force for the background of this story's movie equivalent. Much like Hitch she trailed after Argyle, less like him however she's there out of spite and to prove him wrong. Being proven wrong herself and removing Sprout from her life (diagnosed with an undetermined sociopathic disorder in this 'verse, explaining away his bigotry and odd antics in the movie) has led to a new dawn for the mare. The easiest way of showing this was by highlighting her size and hairstyle. No longer large and beehive'd, she's sleek with a modern bob. The tech focus was a shift away from Canterlogic's mass production, and more a personal renewal of her love for data and science.
Alphabittle/Haven are more or less their canon selves. Lighter and softer certainly, with Haven still having that Zipp-like daredevil in her. I leant more on the fandoms interpretation for their relationship. Zipp and Pipp did exist, having been born much like the 'canon' timeline, albeit their father died whilst they were still children. For the sake of the fic I also imagine there's a ruling King of Zephyr heights, the extremely aged father of Haven.
Peril is an OC to fill out the five. If I was to describe her she'd be the inverse of her sister Haven. Blunt, boisterous, and crude with an aggressive streak a mile wide, she has the voice of an angel and an encyclopedic knowledge of the Zephyr Heights political scene.
"I can't say it's perfect, but I'm trying (with help) and anything noticed would be of great aid."
Sorry; I was low on time when I got to it, and I decided that getting through it without taking the time to error-spot would be better than pushing getting through it at all off to the nebulous future.
"diagnosed with an undetermined sociopathic disorder in this 'verse, explaining away his bigotry and odd antics in the movie"
Huh. I didn't think any such explanation was needed? Maybe we interpreted Sprout's character and actions differently. Sprout's mention in the story did strike me as the strangest part, IIRC, and radically different character interpretations could explain that.
"Peril is an OC to fill out the five. If I was to describe her she'd be the inverse of her sister Haven. Blunt, boisterous, and crude with an aggressive streak a mile wide, she has the voice of an angel and an encyclopedic knowledge of the Zephyr Heights political scene."
Though this does raise the question of what happened to Peril in the new timeline...
Anyway, thanks for writing!