Greetings, and welcome to the famous, fabulous, fantastic fourth Fanfic Spotlight! I'm Xepher, and this week, we've got three lesser known, relatively short pieces for your reading pleasure: A glimpse of science in the Equestrian age of enlightenment, a Royal love story from Celestia's early years, and an ode to the power of musical expression.

True Colors

by Alligator Fists
Words: 14,331 Complete: Yes

I've been watching the new "Cosmos" series with Neil deGrasse Tyson lately, and really enjoy the way they show the story and people behind world-changing discoveries. When I came across this story, I loved it right away, as it feels like it could be from an Equestrian version of Cosmos. The main character here, Picture Bright, wants to understand the true nature of light, and her process of scientific inquiry and discovery is shown in a very realistic way. Like with Cosmos, I already know the science in advance, yet in many ways that makes the story even more enjoyable. Watching as the character puts together the clues and starts to realize the true nature of the spectrum really makes me smile, like watching a kid open a present you know they'll love, or seeing a student's eyes light up when they finally grasp a concept in school. The author here does an excellent job of capturing the essence of science and discovery, without neglecting to make the characters real and personable as well.

If there is one downside to this story, it's that it ends way before I was ready to leave these characters behind. Sadly, the author's account hasn't been active in well over a year, and they've only posted this one story. That said, it's still well worth the read, especially if, like me, you enjoy a little enlightenment-level science in your ponyfic.

To Endure

by Shamus_Aran
Words: 7,351 Complete: Yes

I plucked this one from my fellow staffer Horizon's recommendation list, and now having read it, am very glad I did. The story's own, brief description says it best. "Every princess will have her first love. And the loss of that love will leave its mark on the world, for better or worse." This is a love story, of an immortal Princess and a mortal pegasus. It starts slow and builds toward the inevitable conclusion to all such stories, but along the way the author does a great job of really making one feel for the characters involved. It is both a simple story, and yet complex in many ways. Told as it is from Celestia's own perspective, it provides an interesting glimpse at the conflicting emotions and attitudes she has to balance in knowing that her mortal love will die, yet trying to make the most of what time can be had. The final symbolic reminder—the "mark on the world"—is, in my opinion, a brilliant way to tie things into canon. Having now read this story, whenever I see that "thing" (not going to spoil it for you) in the show or other stories, I'll likely always be reminded of this tale.

Fiddlesticks's Farewell

by Slate Sadpony
Words: 6,095 Complete: Yes

For years I've loved the maxim that "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture." As such, I'm always glad to find stories that, even in some small way, capture a bit of the ephemeral nature of music. This story certainly does that for me. Now, the plot in this tale isn't very deep, and I have to say, the writing is a bit rough in a couple of places as well, but that's okay. It's the emotions that are the main course here, and those come through quite strongly, inextricably tied to the music as they are. In fact, I would almost consider this story an ode to music itself, and the near-magical way a simple series of tones can somehow convey things that words never could. It is in that respect that I highly recommend reading this story. Also, do yourself a favor and listen to the (very real) "Ashokan Farewell" while reading.

That does it for this week, but starting next week, I want to add a fourth story slot for community recommendations. To that end, I want to hear from ya'll, and see what stories you think should be featured. Keeping in mind that part of my goal here is to feature lesser known and possibly overlooked tales, I would prefer to see suggestions for stories with less than 300 "likes" but I'm not making that a hard limit. Also note that we can't feature things with a "mature" rating, so teen or lower only, please. With that said, do you know a story you think deserves more attention? Post it in the comments below!

If you missed it, last week's edition can be found here, and I look forward to seeing what you all recommend for next week.

Until then,
--Xepher