TThe First Second of Eternity

• MLP: FiM
• Adventure
• Drama
• Slice of Life

A timeless alicorn from a bygone era, tasked to watch over the land of Equestria, begins to question her place in it as the world changes and time passes.

• Sex
• Celestia
• Luna
• OC

Sledge115 · 41k words  ·  87  5 · 1.6k views

Hello!
I'm Mighty C, but you can call me farthe- Mighty. ;p

Before I begin my review there's something I just need to get out of the way. While I do try to be as unobjectionable as possible when it comes to my review's, I understand that art and whatever form it takes is an objective medium, and so I will treat it as such. Simply put, there are some things I'm going to like that someone else won't, and vice versa. I strive to help both reader and author understand why I do and don't like something.

I specialise in:
Characters:
How are they characterised and what are you (the author) trying to do with them?
For example, 'are you trying to keep Rainbow Dash in character or are you taking her in a different direction?'

The World:
World building, have you done so correctly? If so, have you used your world's assets correctly?

The Story, the big and the small picture:
How does one chapter stand on its own?
How does the story stand on its own?
Is it good?
Is it fun, entertaining or enjoyable in some capacity?
The little details, are there any?
Foreshadowing.

Now my reviews are structured in a way so that it is convenient for both author and reader to go through. 

First I will give my non-spoiler review of the story with what I think was done well, and what I think was not done so well. Next I will give a vague outline of what happens in the story, so that the reader can really know what is in this story without being spoiled by key moments, characters and plot points.

For most stories I do non-spoiler reviews, unless the experience won't be hampered by spoilers, and if specific aspects need to be mentioned.
Now without further ado, let's begin!

The Review

Most stories start with a question...
This is not one of those stories...
This is something else…
Something special.

"The First Second of Eternity" is a prequel to the story "SPECTRUM" and is canon in the 'Spectrum-verse'. I have not read "SPECTRUM" or any other stories associated with it. So for the majority of this review, "The First Second of Eternity" will be treated as a stand alone story.

Now let's begin (for real this time) shall we?

This is a story that has truly incredible pacing, beautiful descriptions, and wonderful foreshadowing from beginning to end. In just a single chapter I was hooked, line and sinker, this dear reader is a special one.

From the chapter names to the way the main character was handled it was masterful beginning to end. Not once did I not know what was going on. This is a beautiful tale not often seen in writing let alone a fanfic. In all honesty I got lost in this wonderful world the author made, I even forgot it was fanfiction at one point!

The weakest parts of the story for me however was the final chapter and the epilogue. However weak doesn't mean bad in my books. It's just by that point in the story, so much has happened off screen, to both the main character and the world that it just feels out of place. There was no foreshadowing in previous chapters for this great jump that almost made me lose track of where and when I was in the MLP universe.

The epilogue is a ties in the story to the Spectrum-verse, and thus feels a little off to someone who has read nothing about Spectrum-verse. However these two chapters do very little to weaken the overall impact of the story. As by this point, the other 6 chapters are so powerful that it would take a horrendous ending to ruin this wonderful tale.

Speaking of the tale here's a non-spoiler summary.
It's a story about an immortal being named Galatea (unique name that makes her distinguishable form the other characters in the story) and her life over an unknown period of time, but it can be assumed that it is an incredible amount of time.

On the surface it seems simple almost, to watch someone's life over a couple thousand years or so. That however is this story’s greatest strength, the simplicity of it. There's no tangible antagonistic force to confront. No Sombra taking over the Crystal Empire, no Changeling uprising, no end of the world scenario.

No, instead the antagonistic force of this story is the greatest enemy of all, time itself. 

Eternity…
What would eternity do to someone?

Immortality, real immortality…
What would immortality do to someone?

Death, and true loss...
What would death even mean to someone who can never see it, to someone who doesn't fear it… to someone other than yourself?

These three questions are what the First Second of Eternity asks the reader. What makes these questions so powerful though is how they're answered. Now I shall not spoil these answers as they are what make this story so special, but know that they are among some of the most well written and executed answers i have ever seen, period.

This story made me think.
This story made me laugh.
This story made me cry.
And in a way, this story made me die a little.

This story puts things into a perspective not seen often in fiction. It is a story of beginnings and endings, life and death, and the one who walks between them.

The grand tale of a mare outside of life, yet trapped within the walls of time.

The mare who watches, who lissens, who lives forever, yet dies eternally...

This is the story of the first second of eternity.

Final ratings

Chapter ratings.

I - The Lonely Eye: 10
II - The Nameless Mountain: 10 
III - The Hamlet by the Waters: 10
IV - The Traveller From The North: 10
V - The Sun and Moon: 10
VI - The Artisan's Daughter: 10
VII - The Watcher's Night: 9
Epilogue: 7

Overall rating:
<For archive purposes: 9.5/10>

Conclusion
Consistent quality from beginning to end, final chapter slightly weakens overall story, epilogue functions well as a tie-in yet is confusing and out of place in a stand alone story.

I would recommend anyone to read, as it's something that more people should experience even outside of a fanfic.
Earned a like and favourite from me.
Would recommend re-reading.

Final words:
A nice relaxing read that really puts things into perspective and makes the reader really question what life is at its core.

Know this:
As a writer I can appreciate this...
As a reader I can enjoy this...
And as a Brony I can love this.

7502627

Thanks for the review! First off, I'm honoured to have been your entry review .

Now, not much to say, you've pretty much nailed it on the head. In defense of the final chapter, it was supposed to be the only chapter, with the rest only mapped out afterwards. So I suppose you could say that most of the story really an extended prologue for the final chapter . And the epilogue... touche, I did my best to make the story as standalone as it could be, but I also decided to give Galatea a happy conclusion, that of her together with her sisters at last. Easier said than done, as this is actually a scene from the middle of SPECTRUM proper, heh.

At any case, I'm happy to see you've enjoyed Galatea's tale, and thank you for the review

P.S.: What timing to have this come out a little over a year to the day this came out

7503332
was it one of those moments where you thought of a cool scene and decided that you need to write something with that inside it?

7503378

Kind of, sort of? Heh, the whole story came to be because of The Watcher's Night, which initially was just an exercise. And indeed, because we felt it was a pretty neat vignette into her life as is, there's no harm done in expanding on it to make people care about her instead of publishing a scene we were fond of onto Fimfic with little context.