It Is Recommendsday, My Dudes #8 · 5:57pm May 12th, 2021
I slacked with my mulligan last week, so I'm going to pull out the big guns this time.
Today's lead is The Price Of Salt by RoMS. And lemme state it up front: this is easily one of the top three Cozy Glow-centric stories on the site. (And I say that as an author who's well known for two of my own Cozy Glow stories.)
The hook is simple: within the stone, Cozy Glow dreams. And in that dream, Discord visits.
While not overly long, this story has weight to it. The prose, the metaphors, all of it - there's a heaviness to the whole thing. You can feel the way it's pushing down on both Discord and Cozy. She struggles with the obvious metaphor of her punishment, while he struggles with his own side. After all, the ponies taught him empathy. It's his punishment, too. It's a crushing story if you have any empathy for either of the characters.
I absolutely love this piece. And the last line seals it.
On the other side of the statue, we have And I Would Live In Stone by Grimm.
Taken from Chrysalis' point of view, she watches as Twilight returns to the statue and asks those imprisoned a painful question: do you want redemption?
They fight. They rage. They curse her name and stand strong. And they are returned to the stone. Again and again. Over decades, centuries, eons.
Stone and prisoners both crumble in time.
And Chrysalis rages.
Almost pure introspection - and what else could it be? - this story packs a devastating dramatic punch. It stands out all the more in the era where it was published, which was rife with stories of the Trio being redeemed or of taking their victory. This story... it's neither. It's a dark tragedy, and every bitter word is sweet.
Chrysalis would want no different.
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I am flattered. Thanks!
Mind if I use your comments to give a recommendation of my own and get more eyeballs on a good story than I could on my own?
The Trial of Discord Draconequus by 42Zombies. Writing a good first person POV with Discord is hard. You know what is even harder? Writing good draconequus OCs. Getting chaos magic to feel like Chaos Magic and not uninspired mad-libs is no picnic either.
It’s a tragedy that 42Zombies has accomplished all three but his story received almost no attention for it.
Check it out and hopefully give him enough engagement that he’ll be pressured into finishing it in a timely manner.
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Actually, that one's already in my tracking folder - I've been following it since it first got posted.