Review: The Keepers of Discord, by Hoopy McGee · 1:36am Apr 14th, 2016

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An idle comment from Discord during his brief freedom in Return of Harmony leaves Celestia questioning something she had been assuming for over a thousand years. That Discord was unaware of his surroundings while imprisoned. While that could have just been him trying to mess with her head, what if he was serious? No one, even Discord deserves to be alone for so long. So she assigns one of her castle staff, and eventually her family, to be the titular Keepers. To tend to Discord’s statue, keep him company, do their best to make his imprisonment a little less tedious. After all it couldn’t hurt to try and be nice.... right?

Story: First off, a bit of a personal thing, just to give some context. I do not, on the whole, like “sad” stories. The only tag that rivals it for putting a story in my ‘avoid’ column is ‘romance’. Not that I think there is anything inherently wrong with those types of stories, but in general, they simply do not interest me, not helped by, in both cases, how very very often they simply are not done well. In the case of ‘sad’ stories, it’s often a result of the writer trying to hard to make it sad, simply for the sake of being sad in and of itself, rather then simply writing a deep, touching story that just happens to leave you feeling sad, but not depressed. And not devoid of any emotion beside sadness either. in order for a ‘sad’ story to work for me, there needs to be something to it beyond just being sad, and there has to be some point in the end, something worth that sadness, some hope, some joy. A bittersweet feeling, not just bitter.

The bit above is to give a little context for when I say this story is how you do sad right! For starters, on the whole I would not call this a ‘sad’ story. 90% of it has very little in it I’d call sad, it is simply the ending where it turns into a tearjerker, and yet it does it almsot perfectly. And when it does take that sad turn, it feels natural, it is not forced, out of place, anything like that. But above all, the sadness, while intended, is not the true point. The story is not trying to make the reader sad, rather it is simply showing us a character who, for the first time in his long, long life, is actually trying to cope with the concept of loss, of grief over someone else. Which is a subject you simply cannot do without being sad. But it is not only about making him deal with it, but seeing how he deals with it, and showing the hope that this will make him a better pers... errr draconequise for it.

That alone, how it handles something that complicate with such skill, manages to convey so many emotions, would be enough to make this an amazing story. But it goes even further with just how well everything leading up to that moment is done as well. The only even possible flaw I could even try and level agsint the narrative itself is only something that illustrates Tropes are not Bad, That what in one story would be a weakness, something that in general is to be avoided, can, in the right context, be used to make a story all the better. Namely just how fast everything goes, how little time we get to actually be with the characters, how it jumps around years at a time, gives us just the barest glimpses of their lives. Just enough to show us who they are, to get to know them, to connect, but little more. Normally, yes that would be an issue, but here? Here that is not the case. Having them go by so quick, so fleeting, it is perfect. We are seeing things from the perspective of Discord, a being millennia old, if not older. The life of a single pony is but a fleeting thing in his eyes. It helps us to better get into his mindset so that when the end comes, when he is finally forced to confront this reality in a way he’d never even thought of before, we not only understand him better, but can actually be even more sympathetic to him both now, and how he was before.

So yes, on a narrative and writing quality level, this work is nearly flawless.

Characters: As you might figure, the main focus of this story is on character, specifically Discord, and it handles him, like all else, extremely well. Snarky, aloof, not really giving a horseapple about anything besides himself and how annoying being stuck in stone is. His reactions to the various Keepers antics are hilarious, and yet under it all you can clearly see him changing, slowly, subtly, without even realizing it himself until the end. It all feels incredibly natural. Till at the end, the being that had once gloated to himself about how soon he would be free, about how eager he was for the moment the Mane 6 died and he was released once again, is actually begging for his prison not to fall, for his stone shell to crack... not like how it was. Then him trying to deal with these new feelings, trying to figure out what to do now. Everything about it felt incredibly natural. Just an amazing job all around at handling the Spirit of Chaos.

And not just Discord, but the Keepers as well were spot on, generation after generation going about the task, each in their own way. Showing many ways someone could react to being given a task like this and expected to do it, simply because it’s your families job. From Ember Spark who treated it just like a job. She was told by the Princess to do this, and so she would, but only following the letter of her orders, not fully embracing the spirit of them. She would read to Discord, but only books she liked. She would tend to him, but only that, not go further. It was a responsibility she took seriously, but one that wasn’t personal for her, just a job. Evening Breeze, the resentful one, seeing this task as a waste of time, doing the absolute bare minimum she had to, only sticking around because it was her job, giving by Princess Celestia herself. Then the even bigger reveal that her issues were not just how stupid the job seemed, but being resentful of how much time her mother spent on it, adding even more layers to her character. And from just what the ponies knew, she wasn’t wholly wrong, she had no reason to think Discord was anything more then a statue.

And finally Sunny Meadows. Quite possibly the mare who saved Equestria. Without meaning to, without trying, simply by being herself. Embracing her role as Keeper. By treating Discord as a friend. She clearly understood him, as best as a pony could, trying to think what a being of chaos would like, what would make his imprisonment a bit more pleasant. For no reason beyond simply wanting to help him.

Engagement: As you might expect, incredibly high. The story is short enough to be done with incredibly quick, moves at a very fast pace (and as above, in doing so gives about as good a way as possible to show us things from the point of view of an immortal, ageless being dealing with such short lived mortals.) Every scene has something to it that makes you want to see where it goes, and then at the end, you are glued to the page, needing to see where this is going, how Discord will react now that he is free.

Ponyness: Normally one of the highest praises I could give for this aspect of a work is “I could complete see this as an episode of the show” Here though, we have something new, this actually was an episdoe of the show. Not the whole story, but the basic idea. The show did it’s own version of ‘reform Discord by giving him a friend.” So we can directly compare the two versions.

I will not say this is Keep Calm and Flutter On done ‘right’, because that would be to big an insult to the episode. Yes it had some issues, but on the whole I do think it was well done and worked perfectly fine. But, I do have to admit this is almost certainly a better take on that episode. If for no other reason then two advantages this story has, simply as a result of the different medium it is in. First, length, it’s not limited to having to fit in a certain air time, and so has more room to grow, explore, and make things work in. Second, perspective. We are able to see inside Discord’s head, hear his thoughts, see his emotions. It allows us to far better connect to him, to better understand what is going on, why he acts like he does. Versus having to guess at it in the episode.

Beyond that, I do think this is a slightly more powerful version, even discounting those two rather huge bonuses, Keepers would still have a slight edge simply for the differences in situation between Fluttershy and Sunny. While I do not doubt that Fluttershy was legitimate in wanting to be Discord’s friend, the situation in which it was going on leaves more then enough room for doubt in Discord’s mind that this was all her trying to trick him, use him. With Sunny, there is no doubt at all that she was legitimate. She never asked anything of Discord, never expected anything, simply wanted to make his life a bit better.

With Keep Calm it was, from the start, an attempt to change him, to reform him, and he knew it. But here, nopony was trying to make him do anything, was asking anything of him. His reform was completely from his own accord. Stemming naturally as a result of, for the first time in his long, long life, actually making an emotional connection to one of those fleeting mortals that till now had been little more then momentary playthings in his eyes. And that, to me, makes the change all the more powerful.

So yes, in this case I would have to say that, solely from the aspect of Discord reforming (not anything that comes after, cause I would not trade having this be canon for having Discord able to show up and be a character.) this story might not just be a perfect example of “pony’ but actually better then canon.

Overall: Exemplary: Is there any surprise given how this whole thing has been nothing but gushing over the story? Not only does it give us what could be argued as an even better reformation for Discord then we got in the actual show. But there is one more aspect of it that I haven’t mentioned. How it treats another trope that on the whole I really tend to dislike. Who Wants to Live Forever? Not that I disagree with some of the issues associated with it, such as the pain of constantly outliving those you care about, but Celestia sums up the counter that quite beautifully.

"It's the cost of immortality, Discord. Those who are mortal, no matter how long they may live, pass away before we truly get to know them. Then we spend the rest of our lives mourning them."
"It's not really worth it, then, is it?" ...
"It's worth it," I replied. "To me, at least."
"Oh? How so?"
"Because the alternative is to never get to know them. Those lovely, wonderful, and above all brief ponies would live their lives and die without us ever knowing them at all. We would deny ourselves the joy and the beauty of their time on this world, and our own lives would be the poorer for it. And, because... Well, they say that nopony truly dies while someone keeps them alive in their hearts." I stepped forward and bowed my head. "And, as we are immortal, that means that those precious to us will never truly die."

That yes, it will hurt when you lose them, but not getting the chance to know them is far worse. It is simply an amazing capstone to an already nearly perfect story. This story is definitely a must red for anyone and everyone. Short, engaging the whole way, and with an ability to hit you right in the feels in the best possible ways.

Don’t have time to read even something this short no matter how beautiful? Not an excuse, have an equally amazing dramatic reading of it then.