It Is Recommendsday, My Dudes #39 · 9:29pm Dec 15th, 2021
This week, I'm going with a youth theme - foals and young children in their own stories. And we've got a pretty good batch.
I'll lead with the shortest piece: Dawn Comes to Equestria by Evil Fairy. This one's an EQG/G4 crossover that takes place after the finale of both (though not the G4 epilogue.)
The story's short and sweet: Sunset and Pinkie Pie, twenty or so years after the events of EQG, have one last morning with their daughter before she - Luster Dawn - travels to Equestria to study under Princess Twilight. They have breakfast together and then see her off at the portal with a wistful smile.
That's it.
That's all it needs to be.
It's short, fluffy, cute, and tempered by just a hint of wistful parental bittersweet. (It's also heretical because SunPie.) The story's just a breath of fresh air and adorable. Pinkie Pie shines the most, I think - her having that Pinkie Pie energy counterbalanced by a bit of matronly love really makes her blossom. The story's also sitting with sub-ten votes and zero comments, so it's totally gone under the collective radar. I encourage folks to give this one a look.
Second, we've got The Weight of her World by Foxy Henhouse.
Written for the Cadance Is A Terrible Mom contest, it's... it's less Cadance being a terrible mom and her thinking she's a terrible mom. She and Shining are called into Flurry Heart's school after she gets into a fight with another foal before sealing herself into a defensive bubble. Cadance is distraught - Flurry is a princess, after all. Attacking other ponies is terrible, made many times worse for how the public eye is on her. She falls quickly to recriminations: she didn't prepare Flurry for this, didn't do enough to help her, doesn't want her daughter to be seen as a bully and a tyrant...
Fortunately, Shining Armor steps in and helps ground her. And together they approach Flurry to talk about what happened and what to do about it.
All three of them get great character moments in this one. It's an easily relatable problem, but it also highlights well who they are as people. Cadance worrying about her family and her own abilities; Shining being the rock to tie her to realism; Flurry being six, but six with a heart that shows strong. It's a wonderful piece and just plain makes me smile.
Lastly we come to the most recent entry in this series: VVingnut and Agate's vigil.
While just starting, this story has a great setup: Agate lives in the Crystal Empire. Or did. With Sombra's army taking over, her family flees the clamp of his mind-controlling helmets and escapes into the icy wilderness. Or at least, Agate does after they're separated. Young, alone and with barely any supplies, the question rises of how or even if she can survive in the endless snows.
Now this story traces back about four months, to when the concept of the yakutian horses (or snowponies) abruptly appeared and grabbed the fandom's collective attention. This story is fairly directly pointing to be an origin story for them - which is great! Why should batponies get all the fun?
As I mentioned it's still pretty early on, the first chapter only having been posted about two weeks ago. But it's well written, has a great initial setup, and the topic has a lot of promise. Definitely one to watch as the story develops and continues.
New or catching up? Try Recommendsday: The Index for your story needs!
Thank you for the shoutout! And I'm so glad you enjoyed it.
I know it's not exactly common headcanon for Luster, but I really just wanted to share the idea with everyone!
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More than not exactly common - I don't think I've seen it before at all. And it does kinda work!