Recommended Story Reviews #9 – The Lavender Letter, Hoofprints, Fluttershy Comes Out of the Closet, Never So Far Away, Strange Bedfillies (Or: Nopony Loves Twilight Sparkle) · 10:37pm Mar 18th, 2016
In an attempt to re-energize my writing, I re-read a bunch of excellent stories in the last few days. But of course, it would be terrible for me to keep these to myself; while many of these are fandom classics, and others should be, if you somehow haven’t read them, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Hoofprints is perhaps one of my favorite pieces of writing on the site, and it is a pity it is hidden away in a short story collection; much like Cumuliform and The Next Day, it is a hidden gem lurking in a short story collection (though, admittedly, Ghost of Heraclitus’s short story collection is more like a treasure chest full of gems – best keep Spike away from it).
But it is not the only stand-out piece here; Never So Far Away is a story I often find myself re-reading when I’m thinking about excellent slice of life pieces, while The Lavender Letter is a strong shipfic whose structure has always stuck with me. Fluttershy Comes Out of the Closet is a wonderfully punnily-named story that is a great bit of fun, and Strange Bedfillies is a surprisingly sweet yet still very funny story by Tumbleweed.
I hope you folks find these as interesting as I do.
Today’s stories:
The Lavender Letter by Sunchaser
Hoofprints by Ghost of Heraclitus
Fluttershy Comes Out of the Closet by Obscure
Never So Far Away by PoweredByTea
Strange Bedfillies (Or: Nopony Loves Twilight Sparkle) by Tumbleweed
The Lavender Letter
by Sunchaser
Romance
13,074 wordsDescription
Why I recommend it: It is “the” Twilestia shipfic, at least by rating.
Review
Celestia receives a six page long letter from Twilight Sparkle, detailing Twilight’s long, rambling mental journey through the process of dealing with her friends falling in love, and her realization not only that she’s interested in it, but that there is somepony in particular she loves. Afraid she’ll back out of confessing, she encloses a second, sealed letter – the titular lavender letter – to be opened when Twilight arrives in Canterlot, which contains Twilight’s confession that she has fallen in love with Celestia and wants to pursue her romantically.
Twilight is afraid, but at the same time, she deeply wants to do this. But Celestia isn’t ready to give Twilight an answer. She needs to consider it – not only how she feels about Twilight, but whether or not she’s ready to try and fall in love again, as she did before, only to have her heart broken as her duty as a princess (and everyone else’s intention to involve her lover in court intrigues) drove them away.
And so, Celestia asks Twilight to wait for two days, while she formulates an answer – and then gives it to Twilight in the same way that Twilight gave it to her.
This is a really pretty story. The parallel structure of the first two acts is really what makes this story. In each act, the story starts out with a letter giving us some background on their thoughts to each other. Then the scene is interrupted by a “live action” scene – in the first chapter, Twilight meeting with Celestia to confess, and in the second, Luna and Celestia talking about whether or not Celestia should accept. Then the second letter comes, with the confession of emotions in the first scene, and Celestia giving Twilight her decision in the second, followed by a final “live” scent wrapping it up.
The parallel structure allows us to see the similarities and differences between Twilight and Celestia, and what each of their concerns are – as well as the parallel concerns about loss, Twilight fearing the loss of the respect of her mentor, and Celestia fearing a repeat of what happened with her last lover, and the degree to which she allowed her last romance to fail instead of fixing things.
The final chapter will likely have the Twilestia fans cheering, and is quite cute, and wraps the whole thing up rather nicely with a third repetition of “four words”, though they are different in each chapter.
This is a very pretty getting together story, but that isn’t to say it is perfect; if it has one flaw, it is that it is a bit rambly. The letters are not very direct and to-the-point, and while they serve as powerful vehicles for exposition, they can get a little bit wearing in their meandering.
Still, there’s a reason that this story is adored by the Twilestia folks, and it really is a pretty thing. It has a certain flow to it, and it does a pretty good job of drawing out the tension, even if we all know in our heart of hearts how this has to end.
Recommendation: Highly Recommended if you’re open to Twilestia or triumphant getting together shipfics.
Hoofprints
by Ghost of Heraclitus
Human, Sad
1,969 wordsNeil Armstrong sees hoofprints on the Moon.
Why I added it: This is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever read.
Review
Let’s talk about importance.
Obviously, the universe doesn’t care about any one date more than the next, nor for any second more than any other. The universe doesn’t even know what a second is, let alone a date. Humans do, it’s true, but what they care about most of all is the stories they tell about these ‘important moments.’ The stories are real to them, but times long past, well, the humans can no more get to them than, hah, than walk to the Moon.
But humanity’s ever been bad at taking ‘no’ for an answer and got to the Moon. It did so using magic. Oh, it was exceptionally understandable magic: take a witches’ brew of long-chain hydrocarbons and mix them all up just so, now introduce it to so much oxygen you’ve squeezed and chilled into being liquid, and watch the party in the exhaust nozzle. But that’s just one perspective on it. The other is that wizards built a tower, and filled it with air that was made so it would burn, and it burned with such fury that the tower flew like an arrow all the way to the Moon, carrying people who, somehow, lived through the experience. See? Magic.
Hoofprints, on the surface, seems like a whimsical story – the writing is certainly full of whimsy, as is common for many things that Ghost of Heraclitus writes. But it is also a story full of wonder.
Apollo 11 was one of those moments in history which had a profound impact on many people. Not everyone, sadly – but there were many who felt like the world changed because two men ended up on another planetary body, something which had even a decade before seemed to be nearly impossible. It might as well have been magic to some people.
This story captures that sense of wonder, that sense of magic, and combines it with MLP for just one fabulous moment. The texture of the prose in this piece is really wonderful, and the way that all the events are described is powerful and moving. It is a very pretty piece, and reading it is a pleasure every single time. The way Ghost of Heraclitus describes things throughout this piece really sticks with the reader, and I’ve found myself wandering back to re-read this story time and again.
It isn’t particularly long, but it is a thing well worth experiencing.
Recommendation: Highly Recommended.
Fluttershy Comes Out of the Closet
by Obscure
Comedy, Romance
1,015 wordsTwilight coaxes Fluttersy out of a closet.
Why I recommend it: The story is hilarious, and the title is a truly beautiful pun.
Review
Fluttershy is hiding in her closet. Twilight is trying to coax her out… to go on a date with her to a nice restaurant.
The story makes full use of both halves of the title – Twilight is both literally and figuratively trying to get her girlfriend to come out of the closet so they can make their dinner reservation on time. But Fluttershy is afraid.
Really, what makes this story is the dialogue. Twilight’s various means of trying to get Fluttershy to come out of the closet are quite amusing, and the whole story, while a bit sparse on description, is heavy on high-quality humorous-yet-serious dialogue about Twilight trying to be encouraging. It is about Twilight being Twilight, and Fluttershy being Fluttershy, and the combination of affection, exasperation, and humor works excellently and drives the story towards is inevitable conclusion.
It isn’t a terribly long story, but it does exactly what it is trying to do and then gets out of the way.
Recommendation: Highly Recommended.
Never So Far Away
by PoweredByTea
Slice of Life
3,513 wordsTwilight takes a walk in the woods near Canterlot to clear her mind, when a mischievous little phoenix starts dropping chestnut shells on her head. Quite a familiar mischievous little phoenix.
Why I added it: It is an amazing slice of life piece.
Review
I think a lot of my regular readers will note that I’m not a fan of what might be called “true” slice of life stories – that is to say:
Slice of life is a phrase describing the use of mundane realism depicting everyday experiences in art and entertainment.
This, however, is not precisely true. Indeed, I adore slice of life stories – but I only really adore them when they’re actual stories. Simple mundane realism doesn’t really do it for me; I want it to mean something. I want the actions to reveal character, to carry meaning, to bring forth emotion, to engage me – even though they are mundane.
A lot of slice of life stories don’t do this.
But this one does.
On the surface, this is a very simple story about Twilight taking a walk in the woods and happening upon Princess Celestia skipping stones. But this story actually carries with it a great deal of emotion – Twilight is doing this mundane thing because she needs to de-stress. Twilight’s worries and self-doubt lurk constantly beneath the surface, rearing their head time and again, even as she tries to let them go and simply enjoy the moment for what it is. This tension – between her worry and self-doubt, and her knowledge that she’s being silly – makes the piece very engaging, and while not much “happens”, at the same time, a fair bit happens, even though it is just two ponies out skipping stones in the woods.
There are some funny lines here and there, some rueful moments, but what really drives this is the emotionality of the piece. Never So Far Away warms the heart, and it is a piece I’ve always adored for it.
Recommendation: Highly Recommended.
Strange Bedfillies (Or: Nopony Loves Twilight Sparkle)
by Tumbleweed
Comedy, Romance
10,620 wordsOn the morning directly following Lyra & Bon Bon's wedding, Twilight wakes to find an unexpected guest in her bed. Hijinks ensue.
Why I recommend it: An amusing tragicomedy about Twilight not being able to find a special somepony.
Review
Twilight wakes up in bed with Pinkie Pie the morning after a wedding. At first, she assumes the worst, but after Pinkie Pie dismisses the possibility of them sleeping together out of hoof, Twilight begins to wonder – why doesn’t she have a very special somepony? Is there something wrong with her? It isn’t like she really wants one, but she doesn’t even feel like she has the option.
And so Twilight does the rational thing. Namely, end up talking to all of her friends about it.
They’re about as helpful as you might expect in a comedy fic – which is to say, not at all. Though at least it does result in some of her friends resolving some things…
Tumbleweed has a gift for very funny dialogue and setups, and this story is full of the characters showing themselves off excellently. Pinkie Pie is excellent, with her scattered, cheerful, helpful nature shining through wonderfully. Rarity and Applejack end up getting in an argument with each other instead of actually helping Twilight. And Rainbow Dash tries to solve things the Rainbow Dash way, which is to say, bluntly. And badly.
But hilariously.
This whole story is a cascading sequence of minor disasters, one after the next, full of excellent lines and general silliness, but the story isn’t just silly. The story also has a heart, and Twilight really is worried about being potentially undatable. The combination of humor and pathos really drives the piece, and while perhaps Twilight’s friends can’t help solve the problem she’s facing, in the end, this isn’t just a bunch of pratfalls for Twilight, but also a heartwarming piece about somepony who is alone getting helped by their friends.
Recommendation: Highly Recommended.
Summary
The Lavender Letter by Sunchaser
Highly Recommended
Hoofprints by Ghost of Heraclitus
Highly Recommended
Fluttershy Comes Out of the Closet by Obscure
Highly Recommended
Never So Far Away by PoweredByTea
Highly Recommended
Strange Bedfillies (Or: Nopony Loves Twilight Sparkle) by Tumbleweed
Highly Recommended
And now, to go back to working on My Fluttering Heart, which I hope to get out by the end of this weekend.
Until then, I hope you find something that fills you up with literary goodness.
Number of stories still listed as Read It Sooner: 122
Number of stories still listed as Read It Later: 430
Number of stories listed as Read It Eventually: 1872
I hope this is the first of your reviews that somebody sees, so that later they can survey the acres of "Not Recommended" fics in your typical slate and marvel at how things have changed.
Anyways, I read fics at the rate some people conquer nations, but I'll weigh all of these recommendations highly.
Ooh, did I beat you to beating-the-s6-deadline? :D
3814924
That depends. Are you a Mongol? :V
Video unrelated.
3814985
Yes. Yes you did. Because I've been writing very erratically.
3814999
It's okay, I only did it by rushing the fix job. :B
Gosh. Thank you.
I wrote Hoofprints the way I wish I could write everything. I was prompted, saw the story in my head, complete and clear, and wrote it down, just like that.
I've not read all of the others (clearly I should!) but I cannot agree more on "Never So Far Away." I think we ought to start up a petition to get Powered to write more.
3815017
I'm totally for that petition, but don't be surprised if your name ends up in the top bit of it as well.
At this rate, I'll never finish my read-it-later list.
... Thank you.
3815622
I do my best.