Hey, all. Before I begin, I'd like to mention that from now on, if a reviewer in this group decides something in this group deserves to be featured and it ends up as such, that reviewer will write a short review for the group's home page and a long one for a thread [citation needed]. This means that I'm the first of many unlucky reviewers to get a story that needs to be pushed in your faces through any means possible.

Now, my short review's on our home page, but this is my attempt to give more insight with as few spoilers as possible

woop

The Gentle Nights: Audience of One
By: PaulAsaran

Story Description:

Octavia Melody is calm, patient and longing to break the boundaries of class through her career as a musician.

Princess Luna is lost in the eddies of her past, struggling to belong in a new age that doesn't seem to want her.

A chance meeting after a disastrous gala gives these isolated souls a chance to find companionship and comfort. As Luna seeks solace in Octavia's soothing music, Octavia comes to recognize the princess's loneliness and fears. When it's your duty to protect other ponies' dreams, who protects your own? Octavia might just be willing to try.

(My) Initial Thoughts:

"Oh, an obvious setup for OctaLuna. Seems cool."
You see, that there is a rare vessel, and it makes use of a background character's blank slate and the flexibility of the underused best pone's personality. Like, it's not just a crackship. There's just enough set personality in Luna to keep the author in check, but he's free to write Octavia as he wishes. Within reason, of course.

Anyway, I appreciate a ship like this'un, 'cause it allows for freer writing than manesixlurvesrainbodahs etc. It can be both organic and structured.
I went into this mildly pleased.

First Impression:

Immediately, good grammar was found. While I did spot errors, they were few and far-between. One of my biggest issues with this site is that woeful grammar is allowed past moderation. Everyone should, in my opinion, at least get a proofreader on-board before publishing, and this was the least-offensive story, grammatically, that I've read in a long time. May even be the best one.

I also loved the style. It isn't overworked, as many stories aiming for a particular style end up. I know from experience, and though I can't guarantee that style was considered by the author, there is a consistent one. That was only made clearer as I read more.

Finally, the dialogue in those first few paragraphs was organic. It was written as it would be spoken, and every(p)one was in-(background)character. They have their personalities, and they speak like they act. They all flow, too, as friends should, and it really does seem natural. That's a rarity in fan fiction.

Overall Opinion:

Well, it should be clear that I love it at this stage in the review, but I have a couple of points left. First up is the romance.

You see, I'm not that interested in romance. Characters see, kiss and bang. End of. I used like it, but I realised it was always the same. This one isn't.
I'm not saying it's unique in being a slow burn that focuses more on logical progression, from stranger to acquaintance to awkward friend to friend to good friend to bestie to lover, but it's so rarely done, let alone done well, that this genuinely took me by surprise. I'm enjoying it. I want to see how it develops. I'm scared I'll seek out more like it. This is, despite my phrasing, a good thing. A great thing, even.

The second point is also to do with development, though this time of characters. Specifically two of them.

I'm sure you know which two.
Anyway, they start well, but as with the story's romantic relationship, they progress smoothly and logically. They're affected by events and happenings, they react, and I'll say it again, organically, and they think as they feel.

There's no jump from A to B, and any progression feels tenuous, like it could be undone at any moment by something that may come up. I found myself rooting for them to succeed in advancing socially because I know when I read a slight change in personality that it could be gone by the end of the chapter. That's not an easy thing to do in writing. It was done well.

The story's really good. Phenomenally so, in my critical opinion. Read it.

I'm not usually this nice. Not at all.

TL; DR:

I like this a lot :D

~ Superluminous

Pardon me whilst I blush at the gush. Now I can check off "Be featured by a group without prodding or winning a contest" off my bucket list.

This is a thrilling review, to say the least. I've been facing the distinct fear that the story was too grindingly slow, so this is some nice reassurance. I hope you enjoy the conclusion as it steadily comes.

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I'm sure I will.

I'll just have to wait for it, that's all.

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Until June, by my estimate. I have 10 more chapters planned.