Fanfiction Review: Darkest Before Dawn · 7:23pm Mar 23rd, 2013
Blogger: http://blogofpony.blogspot.com/2013/03/fanfiction-review-darkest-before-dawn.html
I hope you're all enjoying yet another pony-free Saturday. With no episodes on the horizon for months, we've got plenty of time to fill with fanfics, talking about fanfics, and wasting our lives. So let's look at an older story, one that ended right around the end of Season Two, about Twilight's early years. Today, we're reviewing Sessalisk's Darkest Before Dawn.
SYNOPSIS:
Twilight Sparkle has just been admitted to Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, unaware of the many trials and tribulations that await her at that prestigious academy. Will she manage to make it through day-to-day existence at the most prestigious boarding school in Canterlot?
REVIEW:
Darkest Before Dawn is not a complete story in and of itself. (We'll get to the other meaning behind that in a moment.) It's more apt to refer to it as a series of vignettes about Twilight and her classmates, her family, and her relationship with Celestia. And in that regard, it's a lot of fun.
Each chapter is almost entirely self-contained. Twilight deals with everything from post-exam jitters to eating grass because she thinks she's costing her family too many bits, while also dealing with the herd of OCs that also populate the school. There's an insane gym teacher, bullies, discussions about zombie plans, and many, many other things throughout the chapters, and each one feels fresh and unique compared to the others. There is a running story through most of the chapters about Twilight's magic being sealed until she can master using it without having explosions like in “Cutie Mark Chronicles,” but it's mostly just running in the background, only occasionally coming to the forefront when the plot requires it.
All of the characters in this story are well-realized and interesting. This has my favorite renditions of Twilight's parents in any story I've read. Her classmates are also varied enough to remain interesting, while the teachers are a nice mixture of standard instructor types from throughout fiction. And Twilight herself is incredibly adorable. She's still willing to make friends at this point, but she also has her show-driven cleverness and booksmarts, tempered with a filly's understanding of the world. (Seriously, her discussion about the bird and bees is hilarious.)
One character you might have noticed I haven't mentioned was Shining Armor. That's because this story was ultimately finished and abandoned because of “A Canterlot Wedding” due to how the story would have affected the tale Sessalisk wanted to tell. There were many, many more chapters planned, and while I disagree with Sessalisk's choice, I respect the author's wishes and enjoy what's already here.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
The individual vignettes in here vary a bit in quality, but they are all enjoyable and fun looks into Twilight's formative years. While it's sad it'll never be fully completed, I cannot recommend what's here enough.
Hmm. I'll have to look into it.
Bullshit, I've been wasting my life even when there are new episodes.
Seems a shame that it had to end that way, but it still sounds pretty interesting.
I think I've seen that floating around... I might read it or not. I tend to get a bit twitchy with some stories that involve Celestia
I'm mixed on my opinions about this story.
On one hand, I try to stick with the personal policy of not demanding updates for stories that authors no longer wish to write. On the other, I'm incredibly disappointed that this one was canceled for the reasons it was canceled. Would it really have been so hard to work in a slightly older Shining Armor that's been away at military training and a Cadence who is no longer sitting for her now that Twilight is in school? Or hell, maybe just go AU? There's plenty of stories that went that route.
Dangit!
Must you keep adding stories to my Read Later list?!
It's already too long!
(Ok, really, I've found that your reviews and my opinion of stories have a strong positive correlation.
I guess we like generally the same things.)
This is one of the few really long stories ive read. Its pretty good.
Man, I loved Darkest Before Dawn. It was one of my Top 3 Favorites at the time, and I'm super disappointed that it stopped like it did.
One of my favourite stories, I recommend it to everyone.
I loved this story so much, I burst into tears when it was cancelled! Poor Sessalisk must have been under a lot of pressure trying to keep it close to the show, and when they threw in an older brother and a foal-sitter, that must have caused Sess to snap! Oh, how I remember the joys of waking up to see a new chapter to this fine tale...
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She isnt given a massive role, and when she is given the spotlight, she is protrayed bery well, including a scene where she has to discipline twilight.
While I love Sessalisk's portrayal of Twilight's parents, I found the entire grass episode tremendously uncomfortable (rather than the 'humorously awkward' I think he was going for).