Signal Boost: 'Those Who Live Forever' · 2:38am May 4th, 2016
In addition to prepping for the panel I'll be joining at the con, the EFNW writing track staff has asked me to contribute a few recommendations for their weekly Fanfic Spotlight posts. (Here's my first recommendation post for them. A great story too, so check it out) 
I was anticipating my second recommendation would appear in their most recent Fanfic Spotlight post, which appeared this past weekend. But, it turns out that I zeroed in on the same story as my friend Winston, who also has been recommending stories to the EFNW team. Well, at least we both have good taste in story recommendations! 
Anyway, I figured that since I wrote a review anyway, I'll just post it up here as an extra signal boost for a very well-crafted story. So, without further adieu:
By MooseMage
A mother brings her daughter to Canterlot, for enrollment in Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Together, they face the future.
I'm not qualified to opine on issues of immortality, but I can say that the message at the heart of this story will resonate with you for a long time to come.
In this tightly-composed piece, there's a lot that Moose Mage doesn't tell us about Dolores Cloud or her daughter, April. We don't know where they're from, where they now live, or even what they really look like. The details that Moose does tell us though paint a vivid picture of a single mother who has dedicated her whole adult life to accomplishing one goal: To secure her prodigy daughter a place in Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.
From there, we're treated to a fresh view of some of the key moments from the show's opening episode... and what those events meant for everyone else scheduled to take an exam that day. Along the way, April crosses paths with fate, and her mother literally crosses paths with a goddess, all while Dolores wrestles with questions that face nearly every parent at some point: Did I do enough? Did I do right by my child? Is my child going to be happy?
Am I going to be happy?
At the close of the story, I'm still left wondering a lot of things about Dolores and April. What do they look like? Where do they live? Is April really doing what she wanted to do all along? And perhaps most importantly: Was Delores's father right? Do we all live forever in some way?
Moose Mage leaves a lot of those unanswered, but that's the beauty of this story, and the main reason why I'm so happy to recommend it to all of you. It asks much of the characters and the readers, and like reality, the answers are really up to each of us to decide. But one answer I think we can agree on, is that this story is well worth the time spent reading it.
Yes. This is a great story and deserves all the eyes.
What
3918016
Said.
Yep.