Sometimes I wonder if there is something wrong with me... · 10:51pm Jul 11th, 2014
Sometimes, as I read stories here on FimFiction, I wind up in a rut where I am only leaving critical or neutral comments. The stories that I read that I enjoy are not the sort of good that I can articulate, I just kinda enjoy them. So I end up leaving a string of comments like "This story really didn't work for me", if I comment at all. This week was one of those, where even stories by authors for whom I have a deep admiration have left me cold, or I end up leaving a comment on a story (that I am pretty sure was written by a twelve year old) trying to find something to praise so my criticism will sting less.
After a while, I begin to wonder, maybe there is nothing wrong with the stories, maybe something is wrong with me. Perhaps my standards are simply so high that even fandom luminaries like Cold in Gardez or Eakin or the Descendant would not be able to give me a story that I like.
But then, I will manage to find something like this.
This guy recently added a third story to his library, Apple Family Last Stand.
My praise is a little wobbly. There are parts of this story that work better than others. You have ponies with guns (not a favorite of mine but not a deal breaker), Pinkie breaks the fourth wall (and she's not even in this story! God damn it Pinkie!) when she named the recon car a 'Hummer'. Oh, and the Apple Family drives a Hummer. I actually imagined AJ was a Chevy girl myself. It is tagged 'Dark', 'Comedy', and 'Adventure', as unlikely a trifecta of tags as you are likely to see working together, but overall the story just works. In part this is because Sparks2037 uses language like a paintbrush, vivid turns of phrase that never delve into purple prose and yet are so descriptive that it feels like DHX is animating the story in my head. Allow me to quote the same example I gave in the comments.
We’d lost so many of the Apple clan that it was a never-ending rodeo of hurt.
In this one phrase, Applejack is telling the reader exactly what she and her kin have been through. There is no need to spell out her accent phonetically, the character voice is so spot on that we simply fill in AJ's twang. And yet it is not this masterful use of language that got me to add Apple Family Last Stand to my userpage.
The story heavily references Sparks' earlier work, Time Enough for Sisters. I got to the end and decided to go and read the first story Sparks2037 posted. Time enough for Sisters is a fun little time travel story about Rarity being visited by her future self(selves). It also displays the author's skill with wording, and it also has it's share of problems. Time enough for Sisters has a tonal lurch that feels like we have skipped tracks. Light-hearted fun does not blend well with grimdark futures... and yet it does. It shouldn't work, I don't think it can work, and yet somehow it does. This shift is still a problem because a casual reader will be blindsided by it, and even though the ending brings it back it still goes deep into grim territory. But it is the intersection of Time Enough and Apple Family where the author's skill truly shines through.
There is a scene at the very end of Time Enough for Sisters. As I read it, I realized this scene is the true ending of Apple Family Last Stand. The final payoff on the risk and the sacrifice that the Apple Clan took during the events of Apple Family, all boiled down to a simple scene of Rarity in her Boutique. It is chilling. It is that moment in a well crafted time travel story where the truth of what is going on, how things got to where they are sinks in, the gears begin to turn. The implication of something Rarity said in one story, paid out in another story. It is tale crafting of the first order. When Sparks2037 publishes his first novel, I want to be first in line to pre-order it.
There is more, the third tale is Quadruple Sonic Rainboom, a tale of Rainbow Dash doing something monumentally stupid. It is only minorly connected to the other stories, and is easily the weakest of the trio. But that is a bit like saying the bronze metalist at a Olympic weight lifting event is the weakest man on the podium. Its true, it just doesn't mean what it sounds like.
I honestly had more fun watching the background elements around Dash, little hints that tell the reader exactly where in the time stream this story takes place. I have less to say about this story because it really only holds up a mirror to the other two stories, showing the events there in a broader context. Beautiful word use again though.
So I managed to get this far without spoiling the end of any of these stories. There is a part of me that wants to fan-gasm all over this blog, to post rampant speculation, massive spoiler-tagged paragraphs explaining just why I think some particular element of the story is awesome. I'd probably sound like Rainbow Dash in Read it and Weep.
I won't do that, but I kinda want to.
Final Thoughts:
One thing that I haven't covered yet, but is worth mentioning, I don't think it matters what order you read these stories in. Each stands alone, and yet each enhances the other. I think the order you read them in will affect the reading experience, but I don't think there is a 'wrong' order.
But if the author writes the other three Mane 6 POV stories, I certainly will not complain.
Stormy, I am flattered, but what is more, I am absolutely floored by your depth of understanding about these three stories. I hope you don't mind that I've mentioned your kind posting on my own FiM blog and recommended that people read this, and your other entries.
That said, I would be interested in your top one or two speculations as to where the story goes from here...I have some ideas that I'm still playing around with.
Best, and thank you again,
Sparks2037
2276288
I'll pm them, I want to avoid spoiling this story if I can.
Normally I gleefully read spoilers, I frequently read comments before diving into a story, but your work begs to be read raw, with no expectations.
2276348 "I'll pm them, I want to avoid spoiling this story if I can."
A wise move, and very considerate to the readers. Again, thank you.