Apple Bloom never thought of herself as a "s'phisticated" pony. She lives on a farm, she eats what's put in front of her, she follows the advice of her kin without question or doubt. That's all there is to it.
Rarity, on the other hoof, is so "s'phisticated" she can actually spell it. Probably too "s'phisticated" for her own good. The life of an artist - even one who actually makes money - is never a simple one.
But truth, like life, is like the gleam off a sun-caught apple. Turn it around, and though it was once dull and uninteresting, the flash of light may well catch your eye in a way that sparks something new and exciting. As if you'd found your cutie mark all over again. A life-changing moment of pure inspiration.
Maybe these two socially sensitive ponies have more in common than they'd ever thought possible...
And there we go! Three out of three fics for this little Sister Sidestep series. This has honestly been a lot of fun, and I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them (if not more!).
The first part from Rarity’s perspective feels disjointed from the rest of the story. At first I thought you were doing a twist on the pattern and doing the story from the “big sister,” perspective this time but then there’s the switch and we never get Rarity’s POV again. It feels like the start to a different story than the one we got.
Other than that the story is a pretty good Apple Bloom character study.
Interesting how the Sweetie Belle and Dash one was the only one under 9K words.
I'd love to see the other three pairings someday, as well as possibly a short prequel story to this showing how exactly they came to the decision to swap sisters, and possibly an epilogue where they talk about their experiences
Pfft, love that even Rarity's acknowledged how good AJ is at the eyebrow
To quote AJ, "You don't normally wear clothes."
With all of the butt shots in the show, I doubt that.
Interesting decision to start with Rarity's perspective
Oh my
That still makes me laugh. All of the ponified cities and countries that exist there, and yet they still just have "France".
All in all, this was a nice little series.
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This wasn't really a ruthlessly disciplined decision; these three fics were more on the casual side of my usual work. Frankly, I'm astonished they've all gotten Featured. They just didn't seem that grand in the grand scheme of things, so at the time of writing I felt like taking liberties.
I appreciate the result's disjointed - those are the consequences - but all in all, I don't feel a pressing need at present to rewrite or go back and rejig it. Perhaps if it proves too distracting, I'll bear that in mind for future projects. At present, it just seems like an acceptable risk to me (I'm trying to leave it open that I can be persuaded otherwise, though, if it's more serious than I thought).
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I think that's mostly because I don't find writing Rainbow Dash as easy as, say, Applejack or Rarity. But also partly because I haven't written Sweetie Belle in a fic for a long time, whereas I've had a turn writing both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo this year too. Plus, I did that one first, and didn't want to touch it afterwards if I couldn't think of anything natural to put in.
Maybe I'll make up for it later and write new projects for each of them. Don't believe this is the last time I want to tackle these characters.
I did consider that, but the way I've been writing the last two years, I'm happy simply to get this much done. Admittedly, I did plan to combine all three into one larger story using the before-and-after scenes you described, but that required more commitment than I was willing to invest; my final drafts were more a series of independent "what if?" scenarios, which if nothing else made the writing less difficult and taxing for me.
Like I said, these were more casual fics I thought I'd publish for low-key entertainment. If these were my more ambitious projects, believe me, I'd take these points seriously (heck, I'm still going to keep them in mind, going forward). I didn't even expect they'd get this much attention before I published them, so merely getting such a turnout has caught me by surprise.
Congrats! All three of the Sister Sidestep stories are featured simultaneously! Well played.
i.imgur.com/y56PWpw.png
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I'm still having difficulty understanding how it happened. I wasn't expecting such a turnout for these three fics. I mean, it's not like they were ambitious projects or anything that unusual in concept. They're just a bunch of fluff pieces, when you get down to it.
I'm not ungrateful, or anything. It's just fair to say that, before I even published the first one, my expectations were far lower than the reality turned out to be.
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You wrote a series of stories featuring canon characters interacting in an original way as friends. We have been waiting for that for eight years.
Great story. But I feel that this is just a beginning. I'd love to see where this story goes from here.
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I wouldn’t be so shocked if I were you. You said it yourself in your reply to my comment on the “Sweetie Belle and Rainbow Dash” story : Characters make the story.
Fluff may seem like a simple concept, but it’s incredibly popular because at its core, we’re seeing interesting personalities develop interactions that in turn create the story.
Being able to view emotions and relationships is probably the biggest selling point in Fiction because it provides a relatability that makes otherwise “static” entities vibrant.
Even in genres like action or adventure, great characterizations can really drive a narrative to the next level.
But, myself in particular, I admire fluff stories like these because seeing admired characters like these learn, grow, and comfort each other also has that same effect on me and many others. Seeing bonds being made and the challenges/ triumphs they face in turn makes us root for them and aspire to create our own relationships.
After all, Friendship is Magic.
Nice story! I have to say, though, this fic reminded me of a certain discussion some time ago. If I may be so bold, was this fic in some way inspired by that?
This was a good trilogy overall.
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I think they started calling it "Prance" in Season 4, at least for "Simple Ways".
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Surely, I'd have thought someone would have done it before me. I just wanted to do it myself, because mixing up characters is one of those things I enjoy anyway.
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Ha! The pilot for the "Fashionista and Farm Girl" series! Episode One: Why Spitting in a Spittoon is Not Ladylike Behaviour.
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Now this is something I can agree with wholeheartedly. The essence of fics like these is the mindset and social interaction of the person/pony in focus. A large part of the plot's progress is about them adapting to new challenges and new ideas.
Especially for this particular fic, it's appropriate to see an inspirational angle too.
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Sorry: I'm genuinely trying to remember which discussion that was. Was it something to do with Beyond the Herd, by any chance?
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Did they? I don't remember that. I thought it was just a face-value title for a book. In any case, I just came up with "Frankoponi" as my own explanation for how the word "French" came into being in-universe.
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Sorry, I left my comment ambiguous in case you’d rather not discuss it.
I can’t help but feel like this fic helped you to move past your own.
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You can send a PM, if you like. I'm still trying to figure it out; sadly, my memory's not the greatest.
No, that was more a "write something and finish it already!" block. The inspiration part is relatively easy for me. It's like everywhere I look, I see new ideas forming just like that.
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I was referring to the block, but it seems that I misinterpreted what that was. Just forget I said anything.
Anyway, I’m glad to see that you’ve been able to conquer it.
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Not sure if you were being serious or not. I was serious, I'd love to have a sequel.
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Well, no promises, mind. I've got a lot on my plate as it is. But I must admit I would like to write for these two again, and this series of fics does make me think of the possibilities. Like I said, though, no promises.
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In the meantime I'll have to check out some of your other stories.
Now that is how you name a shop.
Also how you lose all your invested money and have the neighbors tut-tut about irony.
This and the other two were most enjoyable. Have you considered continuing? The Crusaders each have one more sister they haven't hung out with.
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Even tea shops are not immune to the ever-inflicting disease that is hubris.
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I've considered it, sure, but with my To Do List being the length that it is, I don't have high hopes of coming back to the CMC anytime soon. Even this much originally started out as a writing exercise, one that ended up taking more effort and time than expected. As much as I'd love to keep it going, honestly I can't guarantee a thing at this stage.
The cover picture has me dead
"Swanking, but graciously." I love this phrase. Kudos.
That was a good story.
An oddball ghost happened across your fic and read it. Have a review!