TNo, Things Aren't Going Back To Normal. But, That's Okay.

• Equestria Girls
• Slice of Life

The year eats away at Sunset Shimmer. It's more than not being in the spirit of things. How will things ever be normal again in her life? Sunset looks to the internet for answers.

• Sunset Shimmer

Flutterpriest · 1.1k words  ·  137  5 · 1.7k views

No, Things Aren't Going Back To Normal. But, That's Okay.

by Flutterpriest

Summary

The year eats away at Sunset Shimmer. It's more than not being in the spirit of things. How will things ever be normal again in her life? Sunset looks to the internet for answers.

Initial Thoughts

Oh deary me. It’s a COVID story. And a Quarantine story. I remember a few of these came out during the height of the pandemic (let’s hope that remains past tense), and I largely skipped them all for the same reason: it was too recent and too real of a thing to deal with. 2020 was a bad year, in quite a few ways. And Christmas Even of 2020, when this story was published, was really, really bad.

Buuuuut… it’s Flutterpriest. So, there’s always hope it’s good. Let’s find out.

My General Reaction

Nice story. Well. “Story”. Could use a Suicide tag, but that’d be a little picky on my part.

The summary: Sunset is trapped inside, as many or most of us were during the year 2020, and she’s clearly suffering from a bit of the depression and ennui that’s so familiar to people nowadays. Going through all her social media apps, she keeps seeing her friends finding ways to keep themselves busy while in quarantine or improve themselves in some way. Like learning a language, or getting fit, or writing a book, etc. And that hits her hard.

But then, she hits upon an article with a seemingly uplifting message. At first, she distrusts the message, thinking it’s spam. Then, she cynically dismisses it. This is where the suicide tag might have been justified… but on reflection, perhaps not. It’s a really dark, but momentary thought, and it’s quickly forgotten as Sunset reads the article.

And the article is nice. It’s an uplifting response against cynicism, against depression, and against nihilism. It’s sort of a call to action… or, inaction? Essentially, it reaffirms Sunset’s self-worth, and reminds her that she can’t hold herself to the standards of others, and that everyone can contribute in their own way, and ultimately that one day this whole coronavirus thing will blow over and we’ll be free to be with our friends again.

But as lovely as that message is, and as necessary as it might have been in the darkest days of 2020 (and… maybe as necessary as it is to remember now as well), it’s more or less all the story has going for it. Sunset Shimmer does go through a short character arc, from depression to hope, and it’s told in a way so that an outside force causes this change… but it still feels a little light.

Seems odd to have that as my only major criticism.

Uhhhh…. The article and Sunset’s thoughts are both italics, and that’s odd. There we go.

Technicals

5/5 – No issues, buuuut…
I do wish the story had put Sunset’s thoughts and the article she read in different texts. Italics for both can look a little unprofessional. That’s all. Nitpicking.

Story/Plot/Pacing

4/5 – Bit of a Speech
But while it is a speech, it’s a good speech. And it’s one that does facilitate a change in our protagonist, so it sort of fits.

Characters

4/5 – Sunset has an arc, and it is good
Again, for the same reason as above. The story is a little light on story, but it does what it needs to do, especially with Sunset’s character. She begins in a dark place, and by the end is changed by her experiences to become more hopeful again. If it just wasn’t… a speech, I don’t think I’d have this much of an issue.

Final Word and Rating

No, Things Aren’t Going Back to Normal is a short, charming tale meant to uplift all those who feel that quarantine has somewhat let them down these past two years. It’s perhaps one of the best examples of a blogpost-as-story I’ve seen, and so deserves some attention for the well wishes it tries to pass along.

To the author: The sentiments here are wonderful, and I think everyone needs to hear this sort of message at a time like this 2020. If perhaps instead of an article, Sunset was uplifted by something done or said by one of her friends, I think I could have given this story a full 10 out of 10, but it still sits at the top of the board, well ahead of many, many others who’ve tried something like this and come up short. Well done!

Feel free to comment below.

<For Archive Purposes: 8.4/10>

Thank you for the feedback!

I do think the actions of others likely would have been a better catalyst. Man, them was some dark times. My goal was to use a catalyst that -anyone- quarantining could access, and sadly not everyone has the same support system at home.

I find it interesting when writing these stories that people are clearly meant to take something away from -- It's an incredibly difficult thing to not sacrifice "Story" at the expense of being clear about the message.

Well that, or we could let the reader determine the message they should take away themselves.

Is it the reader that creates the message? Or is it the writer? Or is it something deep inbetween the intent and comprehension in the communication process that translate different from person to person?

You can take my italics from my COLD DEAD BEARD

That said, the story is incredibly dated. Not a good shelf life on this one. -- A good little case of 'writer beware' can be learned from this.

Thank you DeadBeard. You're a Good Beard.