Solo Fic Theather VIII – I Forgot I was There, by GaPJaxie · 1:00am Oct 26th, 2014
GaPJaxie – I Forgot I Was There – Character Drama
Twilight accidentally duplicates herself, but everything turns out fine… for a while.
Reading this fic was an incredibly interesting experience. In a way, the story wraps up around chapter 2, and the other 90% is just the fifth act, pure denouement, stretched to its breaking point. It takes an “happily ever after” scenario and then dissects it, exposing the little issues between the characters, which become stronger and stronger as they are ignored, until that becomes the new conflict, being, essentially, just an echo of the original one.
I love how, for all its drama – and this is 80% drama by volume – none of it ever feels forced, or falls into melodrama. It is the natural development of an unsolvable conundrum, one that ties to the deepest parts of each character, even as they are being reasonable. In fact, much of the story’s success is due to the sharp and well plotted characterizations. Everyone is in character, with various gems in individual sentences, like Applejack saying that “Lorentz contractions are the way length and time are proportionally distorted as y’all approach the speed 0’ light.”
It must be noted that GaPJaxie clearly grows as an author throughout the story. Chapters 1-3 have some stumbles, but he is clearly aware of his limitations, like in how he seems to avoid writing Pinkie early on. It starts off very good, and then gets better and better, all the way to the magnificently subtle finale.
And, despite some controversy that seems to surround it, I believe it ends as well as it ever could. It is, strictly speaking, in media res, but that is to be expected when you consider the whole thing is already the epilogue. In fact, it could probably have ended a dozen times before, or kept going for a while more, and it wouldn’t feel more or less complete. This is such an open ended scenario that each reader would probably have a very different idea of how the story should end, meaning that all possible endings would disappoint most people. The way this story actually ends is something that speaks more about the author than anything else.
Thing is, the characters in this story are so reasonable, that most paths that they could take would probably make sense, or at least justified. An interesting exercise is to think about how different authors might have ended this story. I could see The Descendant having them get over their differences for Spike’s sake; Kafka leaving it open, with the two Twilights looking at each other between hate and inaction; Bad Horse might close with some incredibly dark Aesop. In fact you could as easily justify them fucking or killing each other in the end. For me, I believe that Sparkle could wake up one day as a single individual, but having the experiences of both.
The author himself makes that the main conflict is resolved, but the reflection disappears after an year, and leaves it at that. That this was controversial speaks only to this fic strength. This is a conflict that can’t really be resolved in any real way, like a chronic disease that, at best, becomes part of one’s life. It is just too reasonable for anything else to work. You have an ending here, as unsatisfying as any other would ever be, and I love the fic for it.
It really invites the reader to think about how would we react to having our equal running around, reflecting in great detail the worst of our personality. As much as we want to think we would love that person, and become friends with them, humans aren’t typically good at withstanding such attacks against our egos, and no one is more capable at crushing our defense mechanisms than ourselves.
I didn’t really speak much of the fic itself so far, but this is because at the end of the day I enjoy it more for its implications than anything else. The comedy is appropriate, the shipping is fitting, and the writing is clever. It could have worked without some elements, such as the songs, but they do contribute to give the story its atmosphere, making many of the happenings seem perfunctory. This all is part of its charm, showlike but willing to break from that in other to make a point.
At times, the overuse of the mane 6 goes a little too far, and Rainbow Dash is too much of a jerk, particularly at a specific point of the story. All the ponies feel too callous to both Twilight’s situations, which is completely understandable given how hard such a thing would be to relate, but Rainbow does cross the line, and I don’t think enough was done to justify/remedy it. There is also the matter of the Discord Interlude, which is great in its own right and has nice thematic ties, but doesn’t have enough to do with the story proper.
That, coupled with some nitpicks, like some dragging in the middle chapters, does bring the story down a notch in my book. Still, this is some outstanding work, just not as amazing as the author’s Vision or Arbitrage.
Why it should be read: For a deep, intricate conflict that develops like nothing else does.
Stand out moment: The scene where both Twilights move to the same secret spot, managing to bond-but-not-quite. It is a phenomenal back and forth, and the memory I hope to keep of this story.
9.5/10
I really enjoyed this story as well. Got to enjoy any author where this story is one of the 'lesser' works compared to their others.
For a slightly different take the whole duplication subject, and not quite as well written but still enjoyable, you might want to check out Tainted Reflection. Premise of that one is that one of the Pinkie Pie mirror pool clones avoided getting zapped and tries to build a new life and identity for herself.
Hmm. This story's been on my RiL for ages now, but for whatever reason I've never set aside the time to sit down and read it.
I suppose I'll have to do that, now. It sounds well worth reading.
The fact that you can predict the actions of various other writers for this premise is astonishing to me. Consider yourself followed.