Fandom Classics Part 19: Of Mares and Magic

To read the story, click the image or follow this link

Just a note to those of you wondering about Silent Ponyville 3 and why it hasn't been reviewed yet: although the story is "complete," I figured I'd wait until the alternate endings were done as well, since they've been a consistent (and, I thought, kind of neat) feature of the previous stories.  There's at least one side story I'll be hitting up along with it, but in the meantime I don't want you to think I'm blowing y'all off.  On a related note, I've been delaying on reviewing Dresden Gets Schooled because it's an Equestria Girls spinoff, and I'm still dragging my feet on seeing that, but I'll get to it eventually.  Just in case you were wondering why there were finished 6-star stories (well, sequels) that weren't getting reviewed!

For now, though, you can head below the break and check out my review of GanonFLCL's Of Mares and Magic.



Impressions before reading:  I read this story about a year ago, I believe--it was significantly after the story was completed, anyway, but neither was it terribly recent.  I remember enjoying some parts of the story quite a bit, at the time... and being terribly disappointed by others.  On re-read, I'm hoping that the former outweigh the latter, but we'll see.

Zero-ish spoiler summary:  Still stinging from her humiliation during the Ursa Minor incident, The Great and Powerful Trixie returns to Ponyville to challenge Twilight Sparkle to a magical duel.  At stake: the title of Great and Powerful: a sobriquet which, in fact, is more than just a bit of self-styled aggrandizement.

Thoughts after reading:  Actually, my memories of the first time I read this story proved to be spot-on, at least as far as my reading experience was concerned: this is a story which manages to vacillate between fascinating and infuriating time and again.

Of Mares and Magic is at its best when it focuses on the unicorn dueling and associated worldbuilding which consumes the majority of the fic's length.  The conception of magical competition, and the attendant worldbuilding which GanonFLCL puts in, often show a great deal of creativity.  There's very little repetitiousness in these elements, and the shifting strategies and character plans are consistently interesting.

But there's a whole lot here besides the contests themselves, and those elements were often less impressive.  Several significant digressions dot this fic, the most notable being a (very) extended homage to the MLP fan-game Story of the Blanks, and while some effort is made to integrate these events into the fic, they mostly feel tangential to the story being told.

Then there's the matter of the shipping: this fic plays heavily on the "Trixie and Twilight are in mutual lust" angle which was/is so common in fanfiction.  While I was never sold on the presentation here (nor on a secondary shipping line--yes, there's plenty of PG love storylines here), it would also be fair to say that the romantic angle was neither unnecessary, nor egregiously poorly executed.  And I will give the author credit for not treating Trixie's transition from "I must prove my worth by besting Twilight" to something more amorous as a flip-the-switch moment; even if the beats of their romantic development didn't ring terribly true to me, this fic avoided some of the most improbable pitfalls to which shipping lends itself.

I mentioned that I really enjoyed some of the worldbuilding in this story, and that's true, but I also need to point out that a lot of the worldbuilding doesn't make a lot of sense.  Or rather, the events as presented don't mesh cleanly with what we know about the characters and setting, either from the show or from earlier in the story.  How common, and how commonly-known, information about dueling and titles is in modern Equestria, seems to fluctuate as is convenient to the needs of the fic.

And finally, I need to talk about the epilogue.  First thing's first: it's not really an epilogue, it's the last chapter of the story.   A lot of fanfic authors seem to think that "epilogue" is just fancy-speak for "the last chapter" and it always bugs me when authors misuse it.  The "epilogue" here is unambiguously a direct continuation of the preceding chapter.  Beyond that, though, it left a really bad taste in my mouth... but I can't really get into why without breaking out the spoiler tag.  If you don't want to know how the story ends, you'll just have to take my word that it seriously undermines its characters, and is unsatisfying from a narrative standpoint.  For details, click the tag:

When I read chapter 11, I was pleasantly surprised by the direction GanonFLCL chose to take.  By having Trixie recognize the incompatibility of her needs and Twilight's, Trixie's growth as a character is brought home.  It's still a happy ending (Trixie keeps her title, everyone are friends, all the major demons of the characters' pasts have been exorcised), but the fact that the romance angle doesn't have a chance to materialize gives the ending a sense of credibility.  It's a remarkably restrained way to end the fic, and the fact that I'd been expecting a straight "and then they kissed, and lived happily ever after" made it feel particularly effective.

Then I read the epilogue, and that all went out the window.  Twilight and Trixie will live together forever and ever, and everything's going to work out perfectly, sunshine and roses forevermore, the end.

Now, to be fair, I didn't have a problem with the ending having Trixie and Twilight find a way to be together... but it does reek of a bait-and-switch, to reverse the ending behind a mislabeled epilogue.  The effect was something like being offered five dollars, then being given a quarter instead.  If you'd just given me the quarter I'd have been happy, but by mishandling expectations it's turned into a disappointment.

Much more problematic, though, was the way that the "Great and Powerful" title issues would be handled.  Twilight's brilliant solution is to rules-lawyer Magician's Duels so that she and Trixie can prevent anyone from even trying to earn the title for all but a one-month stretch every year (which, with similar lawyering, can be effectively eliminated).  Both Trixie and Twilight seem to think that this is a brilliant plan, despite the fact that it represents a line of thinking completely antithetical to the importance which Trixie has attached to the title since the beginning of the fic, to the respect which Twilight showed for it when she declined to claim it without facing a tournament... well, despite being antithetical to the characterizations of both ponies on a fundamental level.

Star rating:  ★★☆☆☆ (what does this mean?)

At its best, Of Mares and Magic is downright compelling.  At its worst, it actively insults the reader's intelligence and emotional maturity.  "Its worst" is bad enough that I seriously considered one star here, but looking back at some of the stronger contest scenes... there was a wonderful fic struggling to break free here, and in places, it did.

Recommendation:  Readers who like magical feats, plenty of surprises and unexpected detours, original worldbuilding, and "Twixie" will probably love this.  Readers who like logical and consistent characterizations, worldbuilding which fits with said characterizations and/or the show itself, and a narratively-satisfying conclusion will want to stay far, far away, however.

Next time: Bureaucracy is Magic, by Pen Stroke