ETo Have and To Hold

• MLP: FiM
• Slice of Life

It's a hard thing, trying to live your life while you're always in the spotlight. More so when you've found your one true love.

• Rainbow Dash
• Applejack

Freglz · 7.5k words  ·  85  11 · 1.9k views

We return once more to the realm of horses with yet another AppleDash story! I’m not sure why I end up with a lot of these but I suppose I can’t complain, they make a fine ship after all. Today we’re having a look at To Have and To Hold, a story that’s fairly unique in that it takes place at a wedding while not being about a wedding… sort of. We’ll unpack it.

I think that this story is very unique in what it tackles, and this kind of reflects on a few feelings I was having as I read it. I’ve been mulling over these thoughts for a long time in order to generate concrete things to talk about, and piece together why a few things just ended up feeling strange to me. 

With all that said, I think it’s time to jump in. 

The story follows Applejack, as she is called to a very abrupt and sudden wedding ceremony. Well, it technically isn’t a real wedding: everyone’s favorite lesbians Lyra and Bon Bon are getting their vows renewed and have invited the main six to help out.

Right off the jump I must admit that I had some trouble setting myself in this story, as a fairly brief and very quick 500 word prelude sets the scene before throwing us into the primary plotline of the story. 

The somewhat abrupt pacing throws me for a loop, even when looking back with the context of the full story. Because I want to believe the story wants to focus on the passing of time, what with its theming of weddings and somewhat explicit placement in the post-season nine world. 

This excerpt from the second chapter I think outlines it:

Although I’d never dare say it aloud, those red-framed glasses of hers always made her seem ten years older. Didn’t help that she had that quaint smile – the kind where you can never really tell if she’s being sincere or condescending. “It’s not about what you call it, dear, it’s about the concept. And it’s a rather romantic notion if you ask me. This is their opportunity to outdo themselves – to improve upon their special night. To spark their love anew.”

The notion of Applejack noticing Rarity grow older is somewhat echoed in later chapters: the very next segment involves the others teasing Rainbow and Applejack about how long it took for them to finally start dating.

And I think it’s around here where I personally start to have some problems with the story.

Rainbow laughed and shrugged, shaking her head. “What’s there to envy? You could have any mare or stallion you ever wanted just by fluttering your lashes, and you’re jealous of us?”

“No, not you.” Rarity waved a dismissive, lighthearted hoof as she began circling the dias once more, now measuring each limb in turn. “It’s the missed opportunity I’m envious of. Here I am designing brand new outfits for all of us – myself, Pinkie and Fluttershy included – when I could be redefining the very idea of a bridal gown.”

The smile I didn’t realise I was wearing shrank as a nerve plucked at my core. “What’s that got to do with us?”

“Why, everything!” she blithely exclaimed, only to yank herself to a halt and snap her gaze toward me with a look of sudden realisation. “That is, I mean to say, not that I mean to imply anything, of course. You’re perfectly welcome to progress at your own pace. Although it has been… how long, exactly?”

“Over a year,” Rainbow answered. Her enthusiasm waned somewhat when her eyes met mine. “Officially. Before then… who knows? We sure don’t. The lines get kinda blurry when you try figuring out when the friendship ended and… this began.”

“Not that the friendship side of things ever really ended, mind,” I quickly added, even though I’d rather have remained quiet, because I knew the point Rarity was going to make. “We’re the same as we’ve always been, just with… some other stuff tacked on.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow agreed, nodding along with me, then switched focus again to Rarity with splayed ears and a coy, apologetic smirk. “And, uh… Rares? Could we please not get ahead of ourselves? We’ll be ready when we’re ready. No need to rush.”

This passage I feel highlights some of my concerns best. 

Because the theme of the story feels like it wants to be ‘move at your own pace and take life at your own leisure,’ as Applejack herself says. But the story itself feels like it progresses at an abnormal rate, blazing right through a 500 word setup that establishes what’s going on before hopping straight to said wedding. By the third chapter we’ve left Ponyville entirely, and this itself is only revealed in a brief line about where the wedding’s being held.

The story seems to tug and pull with this a lot. I have a fairly hard time trying to figure out what exactly it’s trying to say, as the actions of the story feel like the move incredibly fast while on the other hand, we get fairly lengthy paragraphs of Applejack musing about why Lyra and Bon Bon think Canterlot is better than Ponyville.

The ending I think solidifies my feelings on this, because the entire time Appl;ejack seems to be fighting the changes that come with time. She mentions a lot: growing distant from her friends, herself growing annoyed with things that she can’t quite explain, and the desire to do what she wants to do versus what others expect her to do.

And yet all of this to me feels undone by the final revelation: this was all arranged by Rainbow Dash as a method to propose to her.

The pieces just don’t make a cohesive picture for me. It's as if two strands are pulling this in opposite directions, rather than forming a cohesive idea. Which I think is rather unfortunate, because the reconciliation scene at the end is particularly strong. It just didn’t feel like the right ending for this story. 

A second thing that stumped me in this story was Applejack herself. There were a lot of lines, most of which I feel are in the earlier chapters of the story, that just don’t feel like things Applejack would say.

At that point, most weddings in my experience hadn’t been all that austentatious, nor had I ever seen the appeal in making a massive show of it. 

This line is an example. I had to reread it just to make sure that the narrator was in fact Applejack because it didn’t feel like her. Granted the next line utilizes an ‘ain’t’ to cement it in, but there are quite a few spaces within this story where the narrative voice doesn’t match with what Applejack herself is saying.

It’s strange, because the other main six characters feel fairly well handled (the exception being Rainbow who feels deviated from her canon self but the story provides a reason for it). Applejack feels like the weakest character, which is strange since the narration is done from her point of view.

It’s hard for me to pinpoint exactly where I feel it falters, but it was strong enough that it felt consistently off to me the entire time. I think I can safely say the characterization of Applejack felt stronger towards the end than it did the front, with the biggest contributor to this being the use of words and phrases that didn’t sound like things Applejack would say. At least in my own mind. 

The prose was fairly cohesive throughout the story. The only thing that caught my eye was this passage:

For starters, it was being held in Canterlot – already a solid twenty-four hours’ travel by train, which required an horrendously early start to the day in order for us to catch it – and that was to say nothing of the passengers

It’s never said in the show but 24 hours by train feels… a little bit overkill, I personally have always thought the ride to be in the realm of four or maybe eight hours, but this is an extremely minor detail. 

Overall, this was a cohesive story with a creative plotline, yet the core elements of the story seem to draw in different directions. The story isn’t tagged romance, but the events that take place within don’t seem to fit its slice of life label either. The description even implies the story to be about Applejack’s struggle living in the spotlight, but the story itself seems to touch on it briefly.

In the end there was a lot to unpack and it took me a while and several rereads to fully understand how I felt about this story, and why the things that felt wrong felt wrong. But I think the points I made above are the core reasons as to why I wasn’t fully sold on it.

But! Remember that I am a reviewer and picking apart stories is what the group is for. So with all this being said, I would still say this is a fun, tight read for any fan of the AppleDash pairing, and it does offer its unique insights into various aspects of life. 

The biggest takeaway? Applejack and Rainbow should kiss. And hug. And maybe even hold hooves. 

Fans of AppleDash looking for a digestible, fairly easy read may enjoy this piece! 

I hope I was able to outline my points well enough, it took me a long time to finally connect the dots on why some stuff didn’t work for me. Again though, this was a really solid piece! I did see it was for a contest so I’m not sure if time limits or word constraints were at play here, but I just really felt that overall this could’ve used a few thousand more words to really let it breathe, and to let each idea play itself out rather than feeling like each point contradicted another. 

The time limit and word constraints were the biggest issue for me, yes, and trying to keep everything in the realm of what we might possibly see in an actual episode from the show. You hit the nail on the head there.

I won't disagree that there's potential for more of the concept to be explored, but I also wasn't sure what I could say or what situations I could construct that didn't go over the same thematic points.

Thanks for your effort in this review, even after I forgot that I requested it.