Epilogue: An Utmost Pleasure
Soft combers of steam rose from the teacup, curling under Silver’s chin and wafting through the empty schoolhouse. Passionflower tea normally circulated during the summertime, but Silver Spoon felt that a reminder of warmer months could bring some cheer in the ice and snow.
She glanced at the stubs of icicles dripping on the edge of the roof. Or at least, there had been ice and snow. They’d strung the icicles up yesterday morning, and it had snowed early last night, yet by noon today, it had all mysteriously vanished. Not melted—too cold for that—but vanished. All the icicle stubs had jagged ends; they’d been snapped off. The weather team must have decided to take them back, but why? And why the rush?
She’d tried asking Rainbow Dash about it, but she and her tortoise (less so the tortoise) had been in a rush this morning and couldn’t stay to talk.
Luckily, passionflower worked in all weather. Its mildly sweet taste came without sugar, the scent could charm a manticore, and the flower’s properties naturally calmed anxiety. Perfect for a Welcome To Ponyville afternoon tea.
So when the new filly stared at the teacup as if it might scratch her eyes out, Silver Spoon couldn’t help but feel a little slighted.
“If you don’t like it, I could always get you something else. Do you like cocoa?” Silver hadn’t brought any, but Sugarcube Corner wasn’t far. Mr. Cake’s hot fudge cocoa couldn’t be beat, and the place sat in the heart of town, perfect for newbie introductions. Plus, some ambassador advice from Pinkie Pie might be in order.
The new kid sat frozen in her chair, peering out from behind her mane with wide blue eyes. She didn’t tremble, however, and when she spoke she spoke clearly, without a stutter. “No, the tea is okay.”
Like you’d know. You barely touched it. Okay, that wasn’t fair. Not everypony wanted a relaxing tea to unwind. Different yokes for different folks. Don’t take it personally.
“Um, it’s just that…” The filly brushed her mane away from her face. At the last second, she noticed what her hoof was doing, winced, and shoved both hooves in her lap. She squeezed her eyes shut, took a breath, and looked up again. “I apologize, but nopony informed me that our meeting would be a tea party. I am not dressed for it, I beg—oh!” She snatched the puffball hat from her head. “I beg your pardon.”
“This isn’t a formal tea. It’s not even a tea party, think of it as a relaxing tea between two new friends.” Silver Spoon sipped her tea, smiled at her own fine work, then motioned the new kid to try some for herself. “Relax, nopony’s going to dock you for points here; it’s not that kind of school.”
“Oh. I didn’t think it would be but…” The filly watched from the other side of the table with both ears up and shoulders stiff. Not terrified. Wary.
“Here, let’s start over.” Silver offered her hoof. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss…?”
They shook. “Toola Roola. I am pleased to be here and to make your acquaintance.” She didn’t mean it and wasn’t good at faking it. That said, the newbie had a firm trustworthy hoofshake. That would get a pony farther than badly rehearsed introductions ever would, especially in this town.
“Lovely to meet you, Toola Roola. On behalf of the Ponyville Student Council, it is my utmost pleasure to welcome you to Ponyville Schoolhouse. I’m Sterling Silver Spoon.” She paused a moment before adding, “Of the Ponyville Silvers.”
“Yeah, I know; everypony knows who you are. You’ve got that one ballroom in the gardens, and used to be with Wondermint and Brights Brightly’s group.” Toola Roola rubbed her chin in thought. “Aaaand I think your friend made Toplofty cry in the bathroom last year?”
Silver Spoon coughed into the frog of her hoof. “I wouldn’t know; we left a little early that night.” Now would be a fantastic time to change subjects. “By the way, how are Brights and Wondermint?”
Toola Roola shrugged her thin shoulders. “I wouldn’t really know.”
Silver peered over the rim of her teacup while her tail curled thoughtfully behind her.
The new filly seemed roughly the same age as Silver, maybe a grade down. The winter hat looked new, but it had no designer labels. No mention of her family name after giving her own, no bragging what her parents did for a living, and no namedropping the city they hailed from. She exchanged pleasantries mechanically and froze whenever Silver Spoon made direct eye contact. She knew of Toplofty’s dethroning, but not the details.
Miss Toola Roola, formerly of Manehattan, had been a scholarship student. No wonder Silver Spoon hadn’t recognized her.
“No,” said Silver, “I suppose you wouldn’t.” A thought occurred. “We weren’t in the same class, were we?”
She thought she remembered most of Mr. Martingale’s small class, but the scholarship students all sort of melted into one badly groomed unit. Most days, she couldn’t be bothered to know one from the other, much less their names.
“Nah, I had Miss Sugarcoat for homeroom.”
Silver flattened her ears. “Yikes.”
Toola Roola laughed. “Tell me about it! We did meet before, though: third year, in the spring. It started raining hard that afternoon, and when it was time to go home, I couldn’t find my raincoat anywhere. I asked you if you’d seen it.”
The mood of the room went lopsided. Toola Roola had stopped laughing, and she now spoke with a strange dreamy flatness to her voice. “You didn’t say anything, so I asked again. You kinda sniffed at me for half a second, and said ‘Who gave you permission to speak to me,’ so I figured that was the end of that.” She leaned back in her chair and shrugged. “Anyway, nopony else was around to ask, so I ended up walking home in the rain.”
“That does sound like me…” Silver played with the loose tip of her braid. “Um. I’m sorry you had to walk home in the rain.”
“Eh, s’fine. Rain’s just water, same stuff you shower in; I’ve had worse.”
“You really remember all of that?” Silver just remembered staying late one rainy day to finish her homework, because Tacks had gone to visit his mother in the Hooflyn. Even that much of the memory was fuzzy at best. It might not have even been the same day.
Toola Roola sipped her tea (finally) and flicked her ears at the taste. It seemed to agree with her. “Yeah, sure. I’m pretty good at remembering things. That’s how I can paint ’em so good later.”
Silver glanced at Toola’s blue tail—four different shades, ranging from cyan to deep indigo—and then to the mop of yellow, pink, and red atop her head. Some of those colors had to be dyed, and only one clique could get away with such a bold color mismatch. “You’re an Art Kid!”
The filly preened and turned to show off the paintbrush on her pink flank. “Well, I didn’t get a scholarship through the lottery.”
“Mother used to be one of those; she says the competition’s brutal.”
“Sometimes, but it’s fair, too. Nopony cares who your family is or how many bits you’ve got. In The Studio, the only thing that matters is what you can do. I liked it there.” Toola Roola picked at the complimentary fruit basket Silver had brought her. She picked up a cantaloupe, turning it over in her hooves with a sad little smile. “That’s where I met Pot Luck, back in first year.” The cantaloupe dropped back into the basket. “Back before she got on Bridleway.”
That name sounded familiar. Silver thought back to the chubby red kid at the gala. “She’s in Hinny of the Hills, right?”
“Yeah,” Toola Roola whispered.
“I see.” Silver Spoon bent her head sympathetically.
It all came together, clearer than a crystal castle.
Wisteria Academy’s social climate marinated in bloody power struggles, character assassinations, meticulous alliances, and trading card economics, but all of these were domestic affairs. The three social circles were an orrery, not a Venn diagram. If the old money snobs underwent a total revolution, the scholarship foals wouldn’t find out for months—if at all—and when they did, nopony would care. Likewise, neither the old or new money cared about the inner-squabbles of the charity cases, save for who stood on top.
But once in a great, great while, a charity case had the extraordinary guile, luck, talent, and sheer ferocity to do the impossible: they ascended. The new money crowd respected that sort of tenacity and rewarded skill with first-class seats in the upper echelons of their rank. (Friends close, enemies closer, and all that.)
Golden tickets, however, had admission for only one. Anypony else at Wisteria would have naturally understood this and accepted it, but not an Art Kid; they crossed social class in auditoriums and studios every day. It might take them a little while to understand.
Bursts of upward mobility tended to give ponies amnesia—“We’re in this together” became “Do I know you?” in a microsecond—but they never forgot where they come from. They never wanted to go back. Ever. If some trace of their humble scholarship past tried to follow them…
Silver Spoon nodded to herself. “You got a black card, didn’t you?”
A tear dripped into Toola Roola’s teacup. “Yeah.”
Gently, Silver reached across the table and laid her hoof upon Toola’s. She bent her neck to look her fellow former Wisterian in the eye. “I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that.”
Toola Roola froze. Nopony, it seemed, had ever told her that before. She stared with massive blue eyes that shined and glistened like a doll’s. Wrinkles creased her face, and she began to cry in earnest.
“I didn’t mean to hit her, Silver Spoon! I really, really didn’t, but she’d been so mean to me all year, and then in finals, she stepped on my painting and she did it on purpose for no reason and it made me s-so ang—” She gulped and wiped her eyes with the kerchief Silver handed her. “I-I didn’t mean to! I didn’t mean it! Pot Luck’s my best friend, I don’ wanna hurt her. I told Headmistress Avalonia—I t-t-told everypony I di-didn’t… I didn’t mean to… I said I was sorry.”
It didn’t matter. Physical violence from any student meant automatic expulsion. Period. That was why black card dealers wound their targets so tight in the first place.
Silver poured a fresh cup of passionflower tea while she gave the filly some time. Good call on that newbie meet n’ greet, Di. Better to get all this out now instead of letting it congeal into something nasty three months from now.
When the sobs finally settled, Silver added a dollop of honey to the cup and began to stir. “It’s probably for the best. I don’t think you belonged there in the first place.”
She didn’t need to look up from stirring tea to know Toola Roola was glaring at her.
Before the newbie could say anything, Silver continued, “Not in the way you’re thinking. Listen, Wisteria Academy’s not like other schools. It doesn’t fit for certain types of fillies.”
“Yeah, like the poor types, right? The scruffy have-nots or charity cases, or whatever else you guys call the scholarship students?” Toola hunched low in her chair and puffed a lock of yellow mane out of her face. Under her breath, she groused, “…not even poor. We’re upper middle class.”
“No, actually.” Silver shook excess honey off the spoon and pushed the cup forward. “It’s because you cared. You cared so much that you let it eat you up until you hit Pot Luck instead of getting revenge some other way.”
Toola Roola laughed at that. “A charity case getting revenge on new money?”
“Mother says there’s nothing more dangerous than an angry scholarship student. I mean, you don’t need money or class to get vengeance—that takes cunning and patience. Revenge needs dedication, and that kind of dedication needs hatred. But you?” Silver Spoon’s hoof traced over the string of pearls Diamond Tiara had given her for her cuteceañera. “It doesn’t sound like you hated Pot Luck, and I don’t think you wanted revenge, either. I think you felt hurt and wanted your friend back.”
Silver spread her hooves in a little shrug. “And that’s why you’re not Wisteria material. It doesn’t mean you’re any better or worse, it’s just a fact. Some ponies aren’t meant for some places.”
“Tch, easy for you to say. You didn’t get kicked out.” Toola Roola knocked back her tea in one long gulp.
Silver began to argue that leaving in disgrace was hardly better, but something about Toola’s tone gave her pause. How much did she really know? She steepled her hooves, tilting her ears forward curiously.
Toola Roola rolled her eyes. “Oh, don’t get cute, Silver Spoon. Everypony knows you left and got the early drop on one of the fastest growing towns in Equestria—one with a top-line fashion designer and a princess! Brights Brightly says your family got insider information, and that’s why you moved here so fast.”
“I knew that unicorn couldn’t keep a secret.” The smile spreading across Silver’s face bordered on unseemly, but she couldn’t help it.
Maybe her old school had fostered more alliances than friendships, but the few she’d made there still held fast. Bless you to the stars, Brights.
It also gave a perfect segue back to the reason for this tea in the first place. Silver gestured to the pretty little schoolyard beyond the window. It’d look prettier with a fresh coat of snow, but whatever. “In that case, you must already know how lucky you are to be in Ponyville.”
“I don’t feel so lucky. My mom and dad aren’t too happy about my getting expelled and all my friends are back home. Or hate me.” Toola Roola followed Silver Spoon’s gaze to the window. She drew in the feast of new playground equipment with Project X centerpiecing the whole thing. “Gotta admit, you guys do have a pretty good playground… be better if I had somepony to play on it with, though.”
Outside, Sweetie Belle passed by the fence. She’d been bundled up tighter than a mummy, with only her eyes and reddened nose poked out from under her hat. When she noticed Silver Spoon and Toola Roola in the window, she smiled and waved.
Silver waved back. “That’s the nice thing about friends: you never stop making them. Lucky for you, Ponyville’s the friendliest place in Equestria. I’m pretty sure it’s literally impossible to come here and not get at least two new friends by the end of the week.”
Granted, it had taken Silver Spoon almost two weeks, but she considered herself the exception, not the rule.
“How about this? I know a unicorn who likes to draw almost as much as you like to paint. We’ll stop by her place and I’ll introduce you during the newbie tour.”
Said tour would begin in a few minutes, too, judging by the near-empty teapot. Silver pulled the new and improved route map from her saddlebag. The revamp now covered all major landmarks and also hit all the focal points for the fourteen-and-under crowd, including the lake, the new playground, and homes of other new students.
Had Coconut Cream connected with anypony yet? Silver didn’t think so. She circled Coconut’s house in purple. “I’m guessing you’ve already met Pinkie Pie?”
Sprinklings of green confetti tinkled out of Toola Roola’s tail when she flicked it. “Yeah, about that. She um… shot a cannon at my face? We sang a song I didn’t know the words to, and I ate some cake, and I’m not really sure what happened?”
“What happened is Pinkie’s your new friend whether you like it or not.”
“Oh.” Toola scrunched her face. “Is that… normal?”
“For Ponyville?” Silver laughed. “Yeah, pretty much. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.”
The breeze rustled through the curtains and the temperature plummeted. Miles above the schoolhouse, something rumbled ominously.
Silver wrapped her scarf around her neck and stuck her head out the window, with Toola Roola standing on her back hooves to see over her head. One by one, all the other ponies outside stopped to look, too.
The visiting city of Cloudsdale thundered above the rooftops. Lightning licked the blue skies. Dark thick clouds blossomed out of season, and electricity spat and sparked in the center of it.
In the street, somepony cried, “The weather factory’s gone haywire!”
A massive shadow fell over Ponyville. Something big and white and wide and BIG was falling for them. Fast.
Toola Roola gulped. “I think we should close that wind—”
PLOFF!
Everything went white and quiet.
After a few moments, Silver Spoon’s head popped out of the snowbank that used to be her chair. Beside her, Toola Roola spat out a mouthful of snow.
Silver sighed and dumped the remains of her tea out the window. A steady stream of slush poured into a bush. “You’ll get used to that, too.”
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Since that's the epilog, is this finished? If so, you should change the status
Charmed!
It makes me wonder what you plan to do now.
Alright, I'll bite:
This story has certainly been an utmost pleasure. It will be dearly treasured, and sorely missed.
Thank you.
le sigh. best silver spoon fic has ended. feels both good and bad man
The fic that finally made me appreciate Silver Spoon as a character. Thank you for this wild ride.
All good things must come to an end. Far better that it be a conclusion as satisfying as this. Silver Spoon has established herself in her new town, an up-and-comer in an up-and-comer. The next Wisterian to come here will be far better prepared, not just because she won't have to move her expectations down several socioeconomic rungs, but also because she'll have her very own high society party pony guiding her steps. "The Ponyville Silvers" indeed.
You done good, Silvy. You done good.
Thank you for one of the best stories on the site, with or without Silver Spoon.
Bittersweet that this story ends. Really nice ending though. I really love your prose and the way you wrote Silver's consciousness. Welp, time to take it from the top! Good luck with your next endeavors.
I guess I better start this fic, now that's it's concluded.
And now that it's finished... incrementing the 👍 counter.
Ooh, nice. A yardstick of how far Silver has come, a call forward to the best part of Fame and Misfortune, and a couple of doses of Tanks for the Memories, to boot.
Snow! What a sweet ending. Silver has come full circle.
Everyone has already said it but I feel the need to say it myself:
This right here is one of the best fics I have read to date. It is impressively well written and I thoroughly enjoyed it. And that is saying a lot since I usually prefer adventure type stories. Your fic got me to really appreciate Silver Spoon (and Diamond Tiara for that matter) and look up similar stories here on the site.
I am genuinely sad to see the story over and done but know I'll keep it in mind and heart as probably the best drama fic I have seen.
I thank you for the enjoyment you provided and wish you all the luck in your future endeavours, I'll keep an eye out for them.
8843456
Wouldn't that be more of a cool ending?
Is there going to be another epilogue chapter? Please?
Wow, this has been quite the ride. This is easily in the top three of any fic i've ever read on this site; its just so dang well executed that you cant help but love it. This is definitely going on the "read again someday" list. Im gonna miss reading the new chapters as they come out, though.
One thing that bugs me a bit though, is that in the last chapter you had di talk a lot about how she didn't really understand her cutie mark. I feel like that never got fully resolved.
I didn't realize we were so close to the end.
Excellent work as always, PP, taking a character most of us wouldn't look twice at and somehow turning her into one of the deepest, most fully realized characters I've had the pleasure of reading on this site. Can't wait to hear what you have planned next.
A perfectly fitting ending. Hearing Silver Spoon call herself one of the "Ponyville Silvers" really drives home how much the town has become her, well, home. And nice to see her using her conniving social skills for the good. 🥄🍵
Well done, and thank you for this whole long, lovely, beautifully written story. One of the best fics on the site, and seeing how much quality fanfic there is around, that's saying a lot!
*sigh* Another of one of the greatest fanfics comes to an end. And nothing to replace it.
WHY DOESN'T THIS FIC HAVE THE 4,000 LIKES OF SOME POS ABOUT A LOSER IN A DARTH VADER MASK WHOSE ASS I'D KICK IN 10 SECONDS FLAT!!!
Proper literature is wasted, WASTED on the peons here!
This is one of those works of story-art that because it's not a "mane 6" gets far less attention than it should, despite weaving itself effortlessly in, around, and between canon without leaving so much as a graceless ripple.
I'll miss it and hope for a sequel, should you feel like dancing between another season or two. Well done.
Congrats on finishing the fic! I've been looking forward to this for some time, so here goes!
The ending of a long running story favorite is a time of both joy and melancholy.
Joy because we all get to see how the story ends; the great dramatic arcs from their dawning to their completion. There is a sense of achievement in coming to the end of a well told story.
Melancholy because there is no longer the delicious anticipation of additional chapters in a story that has gotten woven into our ongoing experience of coming to the site. There is, from a particular point of view, one less reason to return.
As I mentioned in a blog post about great stories that I follow, I didn’t know I needed an epic focused on what Silver Spoon and company were doing while the rest of the show was going on, but TSS is the best job I’ve seen of weaving cannon events into a long running dramatic narrative. I can never read a story with Silver, Diamond, or the other background foals the same way again. My headcanon for them has been permanently modified by TSS.
I believe that every story, blog post, comment, video, and piece of art that gets shared is a gift, from the creator to the community. So I want to thank PatchworkPoltergeist for their epic gift to all of us. I look forward to any other gifts you see fit to share with us.
I've been reading this for the past 2 years, it all seems like it was just yesterday. I even have the Tea Party fan art I did of this story on my wall (and I also have it as part of my folio from University, haha)
I loved this story from the beginning to the end, it's a true masterpiece. However, I feel that your epilogue is just the start of another story waiting to be told and I'm keen to see what's next.
-Edit: I created another piece of art https://robsa990.deviantart.com/art/The-New-Girl-740680819
Silver Spoon's reputation back at Wistera is actually quite fascinating. And it paints the interaction with her old schoolmates in quite a different light. The barb of Toplofty's where she called Diamond the princess of Ponyville. The entire setup to cut Silver Spoon down to size.
Just how much of that was envy? How much of that was feeling threatened? They were all ready to grind Silver Spoon down by baiting Diamond into a fight, but then the latter showed she's a piranha in a fish tank. So yeah, that must've been kindling to the fire of said rumour.
A nice "back to the beginning." Thanks for the deepest character study I've ever read.
Now if you reach Jerusalem
I hope you find your Grail
Be loyal to the ones you leave with
Even if you fail
And be chivalrous to strangers
You meet along the road
As you take that long hard ride, yourself to know.
Thanks for the ride, pardner.
8849075 Imma friggin genie-us all up in hear!
This was a great story and a nice epilogue. A good way to introduce Toola Roola too.
I'm saddened but understand that this is over.
Fantastic work covering absolutely everything that needed to be covered.
I'll reference and re-read certain chapters for years to come.
This was a fantastic read. The best Silver Spoon story I've read.
I think this might ruin any future story about this character I come across because I'll be comparing it to this one. Definitely going to reread this in the near future.
This is one of the best fics I've ever read. It hasn't gotten the attention it deserves, but there's a silver lining to that: It means there may be other fics like this one out there, relatively unknown but still great. It gives me hope that I'll never run out of good fics to read.
Thanks for putting so much work into this and giving us all something great to read.
I saw this picture for the first time today and thought, "that's Toplofty:"
lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JO8nl4kSBb4/WuDyjRQEe4I/AAAAAAAC5KQ/jraENvC5HhMxhagcaF_ml-5ZO30h3SenACHMYCw/s650/HuffishbyAnchorxx1524691596887.jpg
I guess it's the combination of the dress, the expression and the hairdo. Especially the hairdo.
8888414 Lots of explosions that you survive through.
My grandfather's not the only one with multiples.
Or, if you're John Kerry, you shoot yourself because you can't handle a gun.
The student has become the teacher, and Ponyville remains as crazy as ever. What better way to end a story?
Just....WOW. This story raised the bar for me in terms of what can be considered an amazing story, and for how many books and fan fictions I have read in my lifetime, that's saying something. The sheer depth of character study in this work is fantastic, to where the reader is just as surprised at a previously untouched upon character flaw as the character herself is, but the shock isn't because it is out of character, but rather the reader gets so engrossed in the protagonist that they gloss over the hints of these flaws just as Silver does until she/we are forced to confront said flaw. Again, just.... amazing and fantastic!
I apologize if I sound like I'm praising to the point of sounding insincere, but I have to add that of stories I've read, ones of this caliber come around so little but deserve so much, to the point that it makes me highly consider adding a 'God Tier' to my bookshelves, right above 'The Best of the Best' and two up from 'Stories I Like'.
Overall, extremely well written in terms of characters, dialogue, and scenes. I'd recommend this to any fimfiction user in a heartbeat if they enjoy Slice of Life.
Thank you so much for writing and sharing this with us.
Excellent wrap up!
This story has been awesome from beginning to end. You’ve done a wonderful job of characterizing many of the generally forgettable or otherwise underdeveloped side ponies (such as Silver Spoon herself!) in meaningfully unique and interesting ways. There was so much attention to detail in regards to its calls to the show that by the time we reached Crusaders of the Lost Mark I was watching the episode in tandem with reading. The drama was thoroughly compelling, to the point where I spent most of the day reading these last 13 chapters.
And there are so many tiny details like Fair Weather standing for fair weather friend, or the security being so heavy during Silver’s move to Manehattan not only because the old money crowd are like sharks smelling blood in the water, but also because they probably antagonized a Manehattan crime syndicate—and plenty more that I’ve no doubt missed. They all helped to breathe life into this story and made it one that will not be forgotten easily.
Bravo.
You know, this feels very abrupt, and yet... it doesn't. It ends precisely where it should. It's been a great run, and it's a shame you can't keep going, but many thanks for this little bit you did make. This was the Silver Spoon we never got to see in the show, but that I always wanted to. And you've done it so seamlessly I don't have any problems considering this canon, even if it really isn't.
Thanks.
A fitting end to one of the finest character pieces I've had the pleasure to read.
This is a story about an unlikable brat doing not much of anything, theres no overarching plot, no monsters, no adventure, it's slow and gradual and i couldn't binge the story as i like to do. And yet i kept coming back to it, something about your writing style made even the smallest situations interesting, the characters are complicated enough i could like them even if they really weren't likable, i related to silver, even though we have absolutely nothing in common, just because you did such a good job writing the character i just didn't mind any of the things that usually kill a story's interest for me
Might be one of my favourite stories on this site, it's a true testament to a good writer to be able to make a mundane situation interesting, and an unlikable character sympathetic, well done
I've had this story tracked for a long time, and when I saw that it completed, it took me a couple weeks to get to it, but... I don't know what to say.
This story was just incredible. Full stop.
Congratulations.
I enjoyed how you interwove events of the show into the story to show what happened in the background. it also gave more substance to actions taken then just what the show provided. I thought it was a clever backstory you gave the SIlver family.
Alright where do I start?
I began reading this story a few weeks ago, on and off when I got the chance. I went in with and open mind, as a fic about Silver Spoon of all characters wasn’t really in my interests. And adding onto that, I’m not a major fan of slice of life either. But even then, after a few chapters in, I came to the conclusion that I love this story.
This fic is fantastic and probably one of my favourites since I started reading MLP fanfics a few years back. There may not be magic disasters or princess level drama, but you’ve created a story that not only feels lived in, but very real (as much as a story about magical ponies can be).
The characters are all fleshed out and very fun to read, I especially like The Dink and her paranormal shenanigans in this story, as well as Berry Pinch and her background which doesn’t held her back. But the biggest accomplishment is how relatable and likeable Silver Spoon and (mostly) Diamond Tiara were. I felt on Silver’s side the whole ride, even though she’s portrayed so badly in most of the show, you managed to put it in such a way that you begin to see from a new and realistic perspective.
Silver is a flawed pony, as are they all, but even so she grew subtly throughout your story until the end where we see a sort of contrast between Silver Spoon and the ex Wisteria student. Hearing about how Silver dismissed her in the past really nails in how she had grown so much but in a very real way, through events and experiences in Ponyville. I remember how she stared off being embarrassed of Ponyville, and yet at the end she’s proudly showing the new student the good it has to offer.
Silver’s family, friendship drama and struggle to live in such a small and low society town make up the crux of this story. And seeing how she tackles each one shows that an open mind and heart, and a willingness to compromise with people you may not agree with is very important in life. And also growing up is more than just being the same person but older, it’s about growing emotionally and adapting to change as “young ladies should”.
There’s not really much I can critique about it to be honest. I liked the writing, I liked the characters, I liked the story. It definitely deserves more likes than it has now.
That this story is not at the top of the fanfics on this site is testament to the old 'pearls before swine' adage, and one reason why I am so blisteringly harsh at lackluster stories which somehow garner undue attention because they've latched onto some meme or fad or video game.
I have seen that stories can be better, vastly better. And this one is a prime example of fan LITERATURE.
The characterization is magnificent, surpassing the show's character development in every imaginable way. Silver and Diamond, and even the minor characters, all think and speak and behave like genuine people. Their changes are not instant about-faces, but come in fits and starts with believable relapses. And behind these perfectly flawed people is a living and breathing world, complete with all the little cogs and springs twirling and humming just out of sight, but keeping things running smoothly as demonstration that they are all in place.
This story deserves publication. It has all the quality of a masterpiece in children's literature. I see it as a "Stuart Little" or "Charlotte's Web" level classic.
And to do all this with two characters who were for most of their presence in the show, one-dimensional and utterly unlikable, is true testament to the magnificence of the skill of the author.
You can has review!
In all my years of lurking fanfic, this is one of the best fanfics I’ve read across any fandom. Love the character work. Read your blog posts about how you don’t write monsters because I wanted to read everything I could get my hands on that you’d say about this sorry and I agree on pretty much every account. I’m not much of a writer and I’m awful at leaving comments or making any kind of literary criticism that isn’t fixing basic grammar, so sorry that this isn’t one of those big megaparagraphs but I hope this conveys the same love for your story any one of them would have. Your fic is part of why I finally cracked and made a fimfiction account to keep track of the stories I read and love
Coda: ferchrissake have a cuppa tea!
Featured in May for The Goodfic Bin
Great story, good fanfic.
Off topic : I’ve always been fascinated by the fact that people can remember their old grade school nemeses. I’ve never had a classmate/nemesis for more than 2 years in a row so they’re all just a hazy blur. I know I dealt with bullies as a kid, but I never wanted to retain their names. Just move on with my life and know that they never got the best out of me.
This story really drew me in. The characterization of everypony is so deep and so easy to emphasize with. And most of all it makes almost all the foals have that undefinable something that makes them likeable.
This is definitely one of the best Slice of Life fics on this site. A masterwork.
An excellent story that I happily marathoned over the last several days. I can’t help but wonder if it connects to any of your other Diamond Tiara stories. We see a lot of growth for all the characters involved and a lot of world building and depth in the secondary and original characters. I also appreciate how it toyed with a bit of youthful crushes but didn’t devolve into any forced romance subplots. A great work in the slice of life genre.
second time around, still the best fic ever!! honestly even just the atmosphere and emotion this gives me makes me so happy. the past few days i've really felt like i'm in ponyville- a welcome escape from reality :)