Review of "Bravery" by Thesmokingguy · 1:11am Feb 8th, 2022
Today, I will be reviewing “Bravery” by Thesmokingguy. Wow, I’ve actually done this for a month now?
Being a (yet) short story, please note that there will be spoilers. You may skip to the stance on the final verdict which has minimal spoilers.
Summary
Everypony remembers the tale of Flash Magnus, the pillar of bravery who saved his fellow cadets from the dragons, earning him his title and the shield of Netitus.
He remembers too. He still remembers to this day.
And there is nothing he can do about it.
Content
I think the most insightful aspect of this story pertains to how Flash Magnus was portrayed. He was supposed to be the pillar of bravery, one that should be able to confront anyone’s greatest fears, because that’s a given, embedded in his title. Yet, the story sheds new light into Flash Magnus’ character in such a novel way, by showing how vulnerable he was to his own judgment of himself.
Remember, in canon, we were only shown legends of his bravery, passed down from generation after generation. The author, in showing his trauma and his story from his viewpoint, broke that short-sighted view we had. The great thing here is that Flash himself was aware of this. He was aware that everyone looked up to him for his bravery, but yet had to cover his innate fears to portray a false veneer to be a role model.
Some readers might argue that Flash was portrayed inconsistently relative to canon, and perhaps I could see where they could be coming from; in the show, he was shown to be stoic and steadfast against any threats, however dangerous it might be.
Although this might be true, I feel that the author had intended to showcase how minor instances of everyday life could spark a cascade of memories that could haunt the stallion. It could be the simple fact that we never had a chance to view matters from his perspectives, or that there wasn’t any event that was able to trigger such PTSD from him in the show yet.
In this case, the smoke and fireworks from Trixie’s magic show was sufficient to bring these flashbacks into mind. You might say it’s so strange that such a circumstance could lead to this, but I say that the banality of the situation made the experience for Flash Magnus all the more relatable. The event doesn’t necessarily need to be actually congruent; the mind often extrapolates wildly that snaps these experiences back.
To add a greater degree of relatability and realism to Flash’s viewpoint, this led to him wallowing in his own self-doubt that he wasn’t good enough, and wasn’t deserving of the title he had. The spiraling nature of his own internal self-esteem, his trust of himself, his firm belief of what he should be, rather than what he currently was, exemplified this beautifully.
There is something about feeling down that almost makes you feel like you have to crave for more. And the way the author has managed to bring the reader through this downward spiral of hopelessness genuinely makes you feel bad for Flash. Ultimately, it brought him to the stark realization that he was nothing more than the antithesis of what he was supposed to be. That crushing acceptance of his mind’s opinion of himself spoke volumes of how ashamed he felt.
You could feel how his hope of trying to be the best that he can be dies as you near the end of the story. It is painfully reminiscent of many authors I know, that they simply aren’t good enough to be worthy of publishing something. Well, including myself, I guess.
This was accentuated by how Magnus was offered the chance to be able to open up about his feelings, where he admitted to himself that he was too afraid to betray the legends for his own personal feelings. I felt that the author could have delved into this aspect further; Flash could have also known how his legend of bravery was something everyone looked up to, and if he were to openly speak about it, that this would be destroyed. If he had spoken out, how would the rest of them view him as the pillar of bravery?
Yet, the author continues to strike at him, to back him into a corner to define what bravery was to him, which was “to do the right thing despite being absolutely terrified and at the brink of panicking.” While bringing this point up is great, I think that it deserves further development. How far was he away from his own ideal, his own definition of the trait he had a name to?
Another angle to consider would be how bravery could be to confront your own judgment of yourself to work towards bettering the individual. I wondered if there could be a stronger voice in Flash’s mind that would remind him of how that was what he should stand for. Flash simply buckled at the forethought of accepting Starlight’s offer to vocalize his feelings. Perhaps a crazed imagination of how matters would have turned out and then gauging it to be unfruitful for him would help.
This concept of bravery could also be expanded to how others would have judged Flash at this present time, when he was cowering in front of the entire crowd after an embarrassing episode of tackling Trixie to the ground in the middle of her magic show. What could he be thinking when he was suddenly reminded that an entire crowd was staring at him breaking down?
Of course, I wondered if Magnus could have stood up for himself more. Maybe he could have attempted to bargain his way through, thinking how he could somewhat cut himself some slack, because nobody had to go through that traumatic experience but himself. Maybe he could have been angry at himself for conveying how he truly felt in public, especially when bestowed with such a title.
Even if he was already fractured, I feel that he could have at least tried to pick up the pieces; to challenge himself to fight against his fears, to live up to that epitome of bravery, and to do better than last time.
Essentially, I opine this would help to extend upon his canon character more congruently, with him trying desperately to calm himself down stoically to put up a facade as the pillar of bravery before internally breaking down. This would help to foreshadow that intrinsic fear that lingered within him for all this time.
Yes, I could undeniably buy how Flash could be feeling, though I felt that it was sometimes too myopic a glance to really peer into how Flash was feeling, and how crushed he was. And this leads me to my next point.
Flow
Oftentimes, the story was too speedy in conveying Flash’s thoughts for them to properly ground them into the readers’ mind for immersion. However, there were some instances where this speed was justified, such as when he realized he had a knee-jerk reaction that was reminiscent of his past experiences. The story did a creditable job in alternating between longer and shorter paragraphs and sentences to emphasize his guilt in tackling his own internal monologuing.
Why then, do I say that the story was too speedy? When Flash was offered a chance to speak out about his past, I felt that the story could have gone into greater depth to explore the mess that was happening in his mind.
Well, it could be argued that the constant concern conveyed by Starlight prevented the tempo of the story to slow down. Starlight was shown to be pressing Flash to open up, which would help him overcome this.
On the other hoof, I say there are opportune moments where the author could have introduced greater pauses, due to actual lapses in physical time, such as when Starlight hesitated to ask if Flash genuinely needed more help. Otherwise, there are moments in which the author could have introduced pauses to show Flash’s own hesitation and portray the conflict with himself. During these instances, the author could have shown Flash’s concept of bravery in various angles he and I have discussed.
Language
There were some noticeable errors scattered throughout the story.
“... I will let you deal with this Starlight”
“... I will let you deal with this Starlight[.]”
How can I face some of the most lethal creatures Equestria has ever seen, yet I can't even talk to anypony about this.
How can I face some of the most lethal creatures Equestria has ever seen when I can't even talk to anypony about this[?]
Stance
An interesting and relatable take on how trauma and imposter syndrome would be portrayed from the perspective of Flash Magnus. It was a very enjoyable and refreshing piece, though it could be more invokative if the pacing could be regulated better.
Content/Plot: 7/10
Flow/Communication: 6/10
Language/Readability: 7/10
Overall: 6.7/10
Verdict: Enjoyable
