Solo Fic Theather IV – Transistance, by ToixStory · 2:56am Aug 14th, 2014
ToixStory – Transistance – Sci-fi
In a future Equestria, Princess Luna battles for robotic equality.
Sci-fi! Good pony fics in this genre are few and far between, so when you come across a gem such as this one, you really got to cherish it. The idea here is that, 900 years in the future, Equestria has advanced to the point that advanced A.I., cybernetic implants, and interplanetary travel are everyday things. However, rather than going the full cyberpunk line with dystopia, it manages to create something that feels like a natural extension of the pony society presented on the show. Much of that is thanks to Luna, the main protagonist, whom still has a hard time finding her place in the world, while fully embracing all that happens in it, able to see both the good and the bad.
One of the main attractions here is seeing the big changes this society has gone through, such as Celestia naming herself empress, Luna giving the moon over to a corporation, or the long-dead Mane 6 being revived as A.I. controlled Holograms, thanks to the work of Princess Twilight Sparkle, now living in an asteroid. Each of them not only feels natural, but works well towards the story. However, this fic does suffer from too much of tyrantlestia, with Celestia suffering from some serious power tripping issues, to the point of straight-up alienating both her sister and Twilight. Interestingly enough, the story would not only work, but be better without any of that, making their conflict more natural, between two ponies with conflicting, yet still valid viewpoints. It forces drama where none was needed, without gaining anything else in return.
Luna is the stand-out character here, no doubt about that. She works well the angle of story repeating itself, with Luna being in voluntary isolation for a long time before the story starts. In fact, it can be said that, more than robot rights, this is the story of Luna finding her place in Equestria as some kind of Princess of Technology. She is presented as alternately well-regarded and ignored, but in such a way that doesn’t feel contrived, and more a result of her actions only targeting a few specific ponies, rather than society at large. She also manages to be intransigent enough not to be annoying, and her actions are justifiable in the context of the story, considering the baggage of the previous centuries.
At the end of the day, the best thing I can say about this story is that this is great sci-fi, but also great pony, and the perfect mesh of both works wonders in the story favor. It contains tons of unobtrusive references to classic science fiction, both direct and thematically, as well as many common tropes, but there is always that MLP core that some fics seem to forgo. The conflict is there, but it is solved by understanding, and the characters, even in such an alien situation, fell like themselves. Even better, there is a real meshing of those two things, with the typical sci-fi themes being well used together with the MLP ones, such as Twilight having built holograms of her friends (dead for centuries now), or Luna having voluntarily given up control of the Moon – after all, it was her’s in this universe. It is in this crossing that this fic shines, and many stories could take notes of what this one does right.
Why it should be read: For great science fiction that preserves the core values of the show.
Standout moment: Cheesy as it may be, the final scene with the robots linking together to allow Luna to confront her sister was great.
9/10
My favorite part of this story is that the finale confrontation is the three princesses sitting down and coming to a reasonable compromise through calm discussion.
2368506 Yeah, precisely that. I think that is why the whole "tyrantlestia" angle bothers me so much.
Me right now:
37.media.tumblr.com/21aaf25d6efe0c4af49be453dd2de832/tumblr_mig8zpOT2v1rt7rnto1_500.jpg
My favorite part was the amazing cover art.
2369296
If it bothers you, don't read the author's other story, Reach. It has the worst ending to a fic I've ever seen on this site. It snaps suspension of disbelief over its knee and betrays many of the things you liked about this story. I was reluctant to read anything else by Toix after that, but if you give it a 9/10, then I'll give them one more shot.
2626147 Oh, it's certainly much better than Reach. The ending pretty much ruins that one, and I was quite enjoying it up to the last 5 or 6 chapters.
Not to mention all the dangling plot threads, the paper thin villains, and how it can't decide if it is a mistery, a road-trip adventure, or a pretty dark fic.