Nothing ever changes within the forest. Public joy is shameful, pleasure fleeting, and you're not allowed to talk about what you're missing. They tell you what not to say, because that's the best way to make sure you think about it all the time. The younger generation is taught to be just as miserable as the older, allowing the perpetual miasma of depression to occupy fresh hosts. And so the facade which calls itself 'life' goes on across the centuries. Without change and, for the pain of loss, without end.
There's nothing new in the forest. There never will be.
And then there is.
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Chapters (1)
"Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be having a good time."
H L Mencken (1949)
Recontextualising Bridlewoods miserably opressive atmosphere, depression manifest, was a genius move. The idea of it being a kind of pseudo apocalypse cult instead of the movies implied 'no magic = sad' works really well.
Moving magic mayonnaise is important, darn it.
The question of the elder Moonbows is a curious one. Goodness knows canon doesn't give us any data there. Izzy's alluded to family in the past, but never a mom or dad...
"Weak" here defined as "Any tree thinner than a pony is long."
Wonderfully stark portrait of Bridlewood at its nadir... not that it was easy to tell there had been any decline going on for several generations at that point. A grim first step into G5, but still a great exercise in atmosphere and world building. Thank you for it.
Interesting how Twilight Sparkle's spell to split the three tribe apart to protect them from (threat to be determined) held them apart more by thought than physical/magical barriers. Thankfully, Izzy's mind works in mysterious ways. Even to her.
G5 is such a post-apocalyptic setting. It's nice to see you dip into the new generation. Very interested into seeing if you are going to connect it with your main serie as well.
And the spark is lit. Izzy really needed that lantern and now she can be her true happy self. Personally I fully believe that she is a descendant of Pinkie.
The irritating part is that someone in Corporate will declare the story over when it's just really beginning. Defeating Opaline is where the real story begins but we'll just be told to walk away......
Damn, that is a depressing society ...
I'm glad that somepony finally finds something else, even if only for themselves.
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You're on a fanfiction site. Whenever that happens, that's where all of us step in.
izzy is my favorite g5 pony (next to pipp) and this is an interesting take into how depressing bridlewood actually is when you look at it. bing-bongs of despair...
An unusual, but excellent, mix of heartrending and heartwarming. Go, Izzy! Escape the depression! Find new friends and change the world!
A grreat - and very atmospheric - story that brings G5 into the Triptych verse! I love the way you paint Izzy’s background as a major motivator for her sheer scale of bubblyness!
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How precious…the turning point of life…
I've never watched G5, but damn this was interesting. Feels like an echo of modern times, with each generation ensuring the next inherits their misery to the fullest extent. While often not even remembering why they were even miserable in the first place. Perpetuating ideas and things they don't even understand themselves and denying the children any joy or self-expression. Fucking grim.
Why did she have "threads" dropping from her coat? Do they all wear clothes in the future? Or it made me think she was like almost a pinocchio type deal, a construct.
This was brilliant, sad and beautiful and heart wrenching and uplifting. Thank you for this Estee.
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Apparently, some of this idea of perpetually miserable black-and-white wearing pilgrims was deliberate caricature by the Victorian's who liked to think that they were the best.
Sure by Modern standards, the Puritans were a pretty rough bunch, but they still had barn raisings and other such things, the average person probably wore various earth tones of color, Black being a pretty expensive color so limited to the church and those with the financial means.
As to the story itself, I agree with Izzy, the paranoia over maybe a dozen words total and Jinxies is stupid. They've got a nasty case of self-defeatism.
At one point I even wondered why they even bother having foals at all. Why bother living at all, just be done with it and save themselves the trouble.
Another point of curiosity is I find it difficult to understand how a teeming civilization of millions (possibly even very low billions) got shrunk down to 3 small singular burgs with each maybe having 200 ponies tops.
Tangential curiosities aside, this was a very thematic experience, I could almost feel the emotional weight that Izzy described trying to lay down on my chest like a heavy pet. 10/10