It Is Recommendsday, My Dudes #76 · 7:33pm Aug 31st, 2022
Right from the start of the series, one of Princess Celestia's defining traits is her role as teacher and mentor: Twilight wouldn't be Twilight if Celestia hadn't been there to guide her. And I think this week I'll bring some focus on her in that role, which is great because I've got two excellent (and fairly bulky!) pieces that are both by significantly underappreciated authors.
The shorter of the two is my headliner today: Dear Faithful Student by Muramasa.
Twilight Sparkle knew she wasn't Princess Celestia's first student - she'd met Sunset Shimmer, after all. But there were students before Sunset. Twilight knows that for a fact now: she just met several of them. This is problematic, since they've all been dead for centuries and they're not sure why they're alive again either. Now all of Celestia's personal students across a thousand years have to figure out why - and deal with the threat of one of their own who went too deep into dark magic.
Now, I'll lead off on this one to say first that I think the tags are incorrect here. While there are some rather fearsome elements and a few dark spots, I wouldn't call this one horror at all. It begins more mystery and escalates to adventure - those tags are accurate. Just if you're going in expecting a horror story, you're probably not gonna get what you're looking for.
That said? Damn if this one isn't compelling. First off, the concept of it is just amazing: all of Celestia's students across history together? It's great story fodder. The original characters are really strong, and watching them simultaneously come to grips with their deaths, adapt to the new world around them, and wrestle with the antagonist's attacks? Awesome stuff. Frequently the OCs are the weakest part of a story, but these ones really leap off the page and carry the story.
The mystery is top notch, too. It takes a bunch of twists and turns along the way (the ending of Chapter 17 really sticks with me) until things come to a final head. It does a great job by laying just enough information down that I didn't feel blindsided by the revelations, yet kept me out of the loop enough that I was consistently surprised.
Plus the shifting perspectives help to keep things moving and make the fairly large cast feel more active: even leaving aside the one-offs and flashbacks, there's three different primary protagonists in this story. And that really makes sense: the entire cast is made of best-of-the-bests, and there's plenty of strong characters to take the lead at different points where they're needed.
This one's one of my favorite long stories on the site, honestly, and I'm quite pleased to finally feature it.
The longer of today's stories comes to us from Dee Pad in the form of The Girl Who Orbited the Sun.
In an alternate universe, Twilight Sparkle attempts to clear her head after her coronation as Princess. While searching for a book to read and relax with, she finds a hidden space in the palace library's shelves that contains an ancient book. Reading it, she discovers it to be a journal about Princess Celestia's first student: Sunset Shimmer, daughter of Starswirl the Bearded. Intrigued, she starts to read - but is interrupted by Princess Celestia coming to catch up with her. She reveals the book to Celestia, who demands Twilight stop reading and turn it over immediately. Twilight refuses, running away. Because now she must know the answers: who was Sunset Shimmer, and why is Celestia so determined to make sure Twilight doesn't know?
Now, while an alt-u, this story's pretty familiar in a lot of ways. Sunset is still Sunset. Starswirl is still Starswirl. But the context of much of it changes with the change in timeline: Canterlot is just being built; Luna has yet to be taken by the Nightmare; Starswirl, at the beginning, isn't even yet in the Princess' service. What results is just that right kind of alt-u where everything's almost the same and is familiar enough to understand, but the precise events play out differently.
Well. You do know Sunset Shimmer. So not that differently in the broad strokes.
Really, though, I love this one not just for the primary story line but also the secondary framing device. Youthful Sunset Shimmer being her normal precious self with Daddy Starswirl and Celestia is adorable and sad at the same time, but just-alicorned Twilight reading about one of her mentor's greatest regrets and a terrible tragedy is heart-wrenching.
The star in it all is the Princess. It's an amazing portrayal of Celestia's character throughout, both in her distant past and the framing device's present. The final chapter really sells that, and it's just so thick with emotion. It sticks the landing amazingly, managing that right mix of hopeful and maudlin. Real grade-A work.
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I live the second story. It is one of my favorites on the site!
These stories honestly sound pretty good, which isn't always the case even for those that get recommended here… which is why it pains me that I'm not going to be able to read them for a long, long time. Just no space for stories of that length currently! Still getting used to having a half-and-half balance between one-shots and novellas currently. Maybe at some point.
I will say, the first one interest me more. Quite a tasty concept, and OCs that aren't a weak spot for the fic? Um, yes please.
Removed the Horror tag after reading this — you’re definitely right about that.
Thank you so much for featuring Dear Faithful Student! I’m glad you and so many others have enjoyed it and I always like the see others’ thoughts on it.