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TLittle Shop Down Canterlot Road

• MLP: FiM
• Equestria Girls
• Romance
• Drama
• Slice of Life

In a quiet little flower shop down a Canterlot street, Sunset Shimmer finds an unexpected face from her past. One who'd rather not be forgotten, twice over.

• Sunset Shimmer
• Wallflower Blush

Sledge115 · 5.6k words  ·  122  7 · 1.6k views

Fresh off her graduation, Sunset Shimmer wanted nothing more than a break from the troubles and anxiety that plague her mind. And of course, through the Mirror lies the land she once called home, a retreat away from, well, everything.

Unfortunately, in a quiet little flower shop down a Canterlot street, who else should she meet, but a face from her past. One who'd rather not be forgotten, twice over.

Opening remarks

Little Shop Down Canterlot Road by Sledge115 (Sledge) is a romantic drama about Sunset Shimmer and Wallflower Blush. A rather popular lesbian ship that I have personally learned to enjoy over the course of a dozen fics. 

I have read Sledge’s work before, and have greatly enjoyed it, so I look forward to reading what they have in store here.  

Technical

Some minor technical issues in comma and capital misuse.

9/10

Character

The two main characters of this story are Sunset Shimmer and Wallflower Blush (pony variant). 

Sunset Shimmer is well characterized. She’s moroseful about her uncertain future and events prior to her return to Equestria. She leans heavily on the empathetic side of her personality, which I normally have some issue with as it almost always feels like the rough edges are taken off making her a less interesting character, however, in the context of this story it works well. Additionally, having the strong characterization of past Sunset be invoked by Wallflower helps create the differentiation, which further amplifies the plot and the emotional turmoil therein. 

Wallflower, on other hand, specifically pony Wallflower, is a very different beast. She is reserved like her human counterpart, but is more up front and willing to stand her ground. It’s an interesting characterization of her and highlights a different life experience from human Wallflower without outright stating it. This was exceptionally well done as it trusts the reader to interpret her actions rather than having them told.  

Supporting off screen characters are also done well in fulfilling needed purposes as the plot demands, while not taking away from the core tension between Sunset and Wallflower. 

Overall, both characters are enjoyable and, though different from canon expectations, fulfill the needs of the story’s plot well. Full marks.   

10/10

Concept

The short and long descriptions of the story are decent, and the opening hook of the plot is intriguing enough to warrant a read. 

There are some very interesting concepts and themes played within the story such as loss, moving on, and connections between people/ponies. Though there are times where the story seems to fall on well trodden paths, the twist at the end and the execution of the writing itself stop the plot from feeling trite.

The execution, as always, has Sledge's trademark fairytale-like feel, which serves well to embody the melancholy and loss that permeates the fic, however, some of the emotional beats fail to deliver as well as they could, which will be discussed in more detail under Vibe. 

Overall, solid concept and execution, however, the story never does feel like it’s breaking new ground. 

7.5/10

Vibe

Now, first off the prose and writing of the fic is top notch. Sledge’s writing is very “fairytale-like”, which is a personal shorthand for writing that evokes the styles of older stories such as Sleepy Hollow where the pace is somewhat slow and somewhat meandering, but evokes very fantastical and emotional imagery within the text. 

The pacing is on point. The writing definitely takes the time to establish the core emotional moments of the characters, which really gives them the weight they need to pull through. The touchstones for the major plot points are well earned and beget the results expected for a drama such as this. 

However, there are some improvements that I feel at least that could be made. 

Now, the following will be spoiler texted as the next portion requires discussion about the ending. 

Let’s get this out of the way first. The “twist” in which it is heavily implied that Wallflower Blush (human) has died is good. It explains Sunset’s more sombre personality and brings context to the underlying tension she feels through the entirety of the fic. Nothing about this is bad and it is a relevant, poignant addition to the plot.  

However, this could be done much more powerfully in the piece. There are two facets that I think should be considered to elevate the emotional depth of the fic and it's based on the storytelling of a movie called Millennium Actress.  

Millennium Actress is a fictional drama documentary about an actress which the story, from the perspective of two cameramen, tells the life of one actress named Chiyoko Fujiwara. Now, the important detail about the plot is that the entire story is told in one way with one perspective and at the very end, the actress says a single line that flips the entire story on its head changing the entire meaning.  

With this in mind, this is what I think the structure of Little Shop Down Canterlot Road should have done. 

Have more hints of the underlying issue of Sunset's turmoil. Really take the time to establish Sunset’s grief and the juxtaposition of human and pony Wallflower against each other. Really burrow into the tragedy without outright giving it away. 

Then, at the end, have the last text from Wallflower appear and only that line. By doing that, it narrows in on the root cause of Sunset’s sorrow and delivers a stronger emotional gut punch while also recontextualizing Sunset’s actions earlier in the fic.

All that being said, the fic still delivers on its emotional promise by the premise, though has the potential to really elevate itself into an emotional powerhouse. 

7/10

Closing Thoughts

Little Shop Down Canterlot Road by Sledge is a good emotional drama that, despite my criticisms towards what I think would create a stronger piece, is a solid fic that is well worth the read. 

I give this one a full otter recommendation to read it.  

8.3/10

<For archive purposes: 8.3/10>

Personal Score

I enjoyed this. The emotional beats are strong, a preference of mine, the writing is spectacular, and the ending is beautifully tragic. Solid fic overall. 

7/10

7602301

Hello there!

Happy to see that I nailed both of their characters, hehe . Regarding Sunset,I wanted to portray her at a point in time long after the events of EQG and thus, a relatively different character, but leans strongly on her empathy. And Wallflower, I figured that Equestria would have better mental health support and social safety nets compared to totally-not-America in EQG, resulting in a different trajectory for her.

I can't really argue regarding the plot, as, well, it's one of my shortest works .

All in all though, thank you for the lovely review Glad you liked it!