The Dazzlings Get Too Meta For Their Own Good

by forbloodysummer

Adagio Writes Fanfiction vol. 1: The Fix Fic

Author's Note:

This is the first metasiren chapter added after the main story was finished, and does not in any way relate canonically to the three chapters in Daniel Ingram's head.

This chapter features Rarity, as written by Adagio, and was suggested to me by someone I watched Dance Magic with (though it doesn't contain any spoilers for that story).

Gathering up her many designer shopping bags, Rarity thanked the cashier and turned towards the door. She headed for it with a spring in her step, her delight at the day’s purchases not dampened by having to carry them all home. She had almost reached the wide archway separating the department store from the rest of Canterlot Mall when she caught sight of the makeup counter, remembering that her favourite everyday mascara was running low.

Diverting course towards the stand, her eyes sought out the spot where her familiar brand resided, but couldn’t help noticing something else too. There, off to the left of her usual choice, a display sign stood on the countertop, surrounded by a cluster of mascara pens stood upright, like a tiny forest.

“Waterproof mascara?” she wondered aloud. “That’s a really good idea.”

---

Adagio recommends Max Factor Masterpiece or Max Factor False Lash Effect. Waterproof, not water-resistant.
Rarity, sort your life out.

Comments

[forbloodysummer]

9489999 Hi! I'm finally replying to this, six months on I did really appreciate such a long, thoughtful comment, and I showed that disastrously. Sorry.

But while I think the best versions of her are in fanfiction, those might not exist if the authors hadn't had to integrate two movies' Sunsets, both for their map of stress points and fracture directions (retroactively so for the first movie) and a need for there to now be reasonable if not great reasons for how she got to all those points.

I agree, there's been some great fan-created stories to try to rectify it all. I'm finding increasingly that the Equestria Girls side of things might have been so much more together if it had been a series rather than four movies and then lots of shorts and specials. Perhaps that's part of why the earlier instalments were generally stronger - because we'd only been shown small glimpses of the world, so had plenty of leeway in trying to fit those glimpses together like jigsaw pieces.

You could read the results the other way...

I can definitely see that, yeah. It's definitely less sexualised than many cartoons, and of course far less so than lots of the artwork. I think a lot of the complaints weren't so much that the characters were 'sexy,' but that they presented a uniform image of what teenage girls looked like. Those templates were all stick-thin, which perhaps wasn't the healthiest message to send to that already-enormously-aesthetically-pressured demographic. That aspect was so much more pronounced by the characters' heads being so big compared to their bodies, which is a problem the parent show doesn't have.

I think that in the absence of political pressures to do so to "prove something" or magic flooding into the world and changing our capacities dramatically, we won't be really sending humans out again until we're equipped and prepared to expand on the definition of "human".

I think perhaps the next humans in space will be colonists. Most things leading up to that can be handled by robots, but, once everything's set up, I think humans will be colonising Mars within a century. Hopefully half.

I'm actually partly okay with that one, because it implies that as part of her unceasing efforts to develop her students by ensuring they acquire the tools and attitudes needed to seize the best out of life and be a credit to her school's fearsome reputation, Cinch already has a repertoire of easily-adapted "bully the stand/holdout" songs she habitually applies to students in public places, and most of her students know the melodies and her expectations enough to instantly join in.

That is a fantastic take on it! Still, though, where did the orchestra come from?

Sort of. Bringing back what the fans liked to see from her did mean leaving her hanging in a different way: she was originally written not as a character but as a vice and her reappearance affirmed that.

That is a completely fair point. I hadn't thought of it from that angle, since I wasn't keen on Trixie until season 6. But I get what you mean, and they did the same thing with Chrysalis, whose first appearance left all manner of motivations available, and lots of possibilities for changeling society. To Where and Back Again ruled most of that out, and mostly went for the stock villain options.

Starlight... I actually think Starlight's less interesting as a villain.

I wrote this story two and a half years ago, and in the time since... Yeah, I agree with you. Season 6 wasn't so great with Starlight, but as soon as Rock Solid Friendship rolled around, she's been one of my favourite characters, and such a boon to the show. Definitely less predictable now, eeyup.

It isn't a root, but I can see equality as an attractive fad concept for any pre-Twilight version of Starlight who's focused on doing good.

I can see that, yep, that would be a good backstory. I just didn't felt that was the explanation we got, when the thing with Sunburst came out, and wish they'd done that a bit differently.

And while my own music theory's horribly rusty (and not helped by its very existence mostly due to refusing to let my obvious and complete lack of talent, aptitude or ear for music stop me from signing up for more semesters of theory - this was at the point where I'd stopped even bothering to look at my grades), I do appreciate the details whether I completely get them or not.

I think it's lovely that you kept going with it for that long I was always better at the theory side than the practical playing bits, but I think it's interesting in its own right. How did you find the concept of linking the theories with the notes? That's always the key thing, I think - if you can understand the idea but then hear how it affects the sound, then it makes a lot more sense.

I think, whether in this story or another music-theory-heavy one I wrote more recently, it's a bit like this Fast Show sketch:

When I first saw that, I didn't understand the theory jargon. I do now, but you can bet 98% of the audience don't. But its purpose in the scene isn't to be understood, it's to show that the character in question really knows their stuff and is clearly way more into it than the viewers. If you do understand it, it's a nice bonus. But mostly for kudos points of making one feel smug over getting something not many others did, rather than actually enhancing how good the scene is.