TSpectrum of Lightning

• MLP: FiM
• Adventure
• Thriller

Dive into the secret past of Twilight Velvet—mother of the Princess of Friendship—as she embarks on her first guns-blazing adventure with the Whip-Cracking Crusader. Volume 1 of Daring Did: Tales of an Adventurer's Companion

• Violence
• Profanity
• Alt. Universe
• OC
• Other
• Daring Do
• Twilight Velvet
• Night Light

Seriff Pilcrow · 119k words  ·  270  3 · 5.4k views

Have you ever kept a secret from somepony?

How about an entirely different life?

Twilight Velvet has definitely been less than honest with her family and friends, but now, so many years later, somepony stumbles upon the truth. Adventures long done, friendships that have withered to the barest of sparks—what will resurface as Twilight's true life is uncovered?

January is coming to an end, but the snowstorms are just beginning! As I sit here writing this review, there are the biggest snowflakes being whipped across the sky. Wild. Speaking of weather phenomenons, today's story has got some funky stuff going on as well Eh, that joke didn't work out as well as I hoped it would. Carry on!

Setting and Plot

Ah, I remember that old headcanon! The lengths that Seriff and AdmiralKew (henceforth referred to as SerKew) went to in bringing life to the idea of Twilight Velvet adventuring with Daring Do are incredible. For their first entry in their series, they did a wonderful job of introducing the concept to the audience through Spike finding an old journal and discovering the truth about Twilight Velvet bit by bit, just as we do by reading the story. While the portrayal of Twilight Velvet is different than the general idea the fandom has about her personality and habits, there are throw-away lines scattered throughout that nod towards her future as mother to Queen Princess Twilight Sparkle, the One True Ruler of Equestria, and provides some minor foreshadowing of events to come. Just how far will Twilight Velvet go? We'll have to stick around to find out

There were some aspects in the story that I found a little strange or had to take some time to grasp, specifically the progression of technology and where we are. While I'm still not 100% sure, I think the readers can grasp it fairly quickly and it's a small enough detail as to not be detrimental to the reader experience

Rating: 9/10

Character Exploration

Personally, I feel like there's a bit of a lack of exploration in the story, but I can easily chalk it up to being a more action-packed story than I'm used to reading. I am very much an emotional-driven reader and writer and I tend to put more emphasis on how characters react to events than how they cause the events in question It is always interesting to see how others write differently, especially in a kind of story like Spectrum of Lightning where you don't expect a butt-ton of character exploration or depth in what would otherwise be an adventure thriller.

SerKew does a fine job of delving into what Twilight Velvet will and won't do during her journey with Daring Do. Though there are cuts here and there that jump past opportunities for more interactions and character exploration, such as Daring teaching Twilight different skills, SerKew makes up for that by interjecting the dialogue between the two main characters with nods toward progression in their relationship, as well as Twilight's engagement to a stay-at-home Night Light. As mentioned before, we're not quite sure what will be the events to cause Twilight to stop her adventuring and settle down into the more motherly role that we're used to, but we'll just have to wait and see

Rating: 7.5/10

Grammar, Formatting, and Consistency

It's clear that SerKew take a lot of careful consideration into their wording, and it shows! With an editor and several prereaders at their disposal, Spectrum of Lightning aces this part of my review The writer in me, despite laden with procrastination, is very pleased with this.

Section rating: 10/10

My Little Nitpicks

Chapter art
The chapter art looks s i c k. I love it.

Family relations
Hm, so Twilight is not on the best of terms with Twilight? Intriguing

QP613
I'm... trying so hard to see if this is a reference to something or someone. QP613... Is it a name like DJ P0N3? I must get my conspiracy board out.

You've seen the inventions, now meet the inventor
So, Twilight Senior is a tinkerer? I wonder what other things she's cooked up over the years

How many ponies does it take to unscrew a lightbulb?
One very resourceful mare!

Trowel Time
Is it trowel time? I think it's trowel time.

Whipping
I'm no expert on whips, but I'm pretty sure they can't do half of the things described in this story. Then again, I'm pretty sure whips can't do half of the things they're described doing in any fictional media, soooo....

Stalactite, stalagmite
Which one is it? I will never know Personally, I just like to imagine that Twilight walked into a column instead of figuring out for myself which one hangs from the ceiling and which one juts up from the ground.

Zippity, zappity, zoo
Now that is lightning that has direction! Which is more than I can say about myself

Buffalos have their own abilities, you know
Thunderhooves best buffalo. Also most developed buffalo in the story, so therefore best buffalo in the story.

Mad Scientistese
I will admit, this made me cackle like a witch.

Artifact detector
Indra's-Bow-finder extraordinaire! Buy now at the low, low cost of revealing your presence and possible location! Get yours today!

Final Thoughts

A well-written story and one that I enjoyed so far! I'm very excited to see what Seriff Pilcrow and AdmiralKew have in store for Twilight Velvet and Daring Do as the Spectrum of Lightning continues and future installments of their Daring Did series. It can now boast the fact that it's the first story in my Illuminated Reviews folder

Final rating: ((9+7.5+10)/3)/10 = (26.5/3)/10 = 8.8/10

Nice! Enjoyed the review, Lumina. And good on ya, Seriff. Keep up the good work in med school! And... ya know, get that next chapter written when you get the chance.