Words read this week: 296,450
Okay, okay, I didn't read all those words this week. But I did read them all for this review! It is ten years to the very day since my first Ponyfic Roundup, and The Silver Standard is also my 2,000th PR fic. I didn't plan that the two should coincide, at least not until very recently, but I'm not complaining! Today's fic is the fourth longest I've ever featured on these virtual pages,¹ and as such it took me quite some while to read. Was it worth it? Yes it was. Read on...
¹ After Fallout: Equestria (PR 5), The Life and Times of a Winning Pony (PR 68) and The Immortal Game (PR 154).
The Silver Standard by PatchworkPoltergeist
Silver Spoon, Diamond Tiara, CMCs and Other
G4; Drama/Slice of Life; 296k words; Apr 2015–Apr 2018; Everyone
Once upon a time, Silver Spoon's life made sense. Now she lives in Ponyville.
For many, perhaps most, MLP fans Silver Spoon isn't a character they spend a lot of time thinking about, except in a vague "Diamond Tiara's sidekick" kind of way. The Silver Standard may well change your mind. A tale running from before S1 of Friendship is Magic until after the events of "Crusaders of the Lost Mark", the fic gives us a far wider and deeper insight into what it's like to be Silver Spoon. The story's length allows substantial sidelights such as a grippingly vicious battle of wills and words at Silver's old school or the gently running mystery of what "battletag" actually is, while other foals such as Dinky "The Dink" Hooves (interestingly portrayed as almost playground royalty) and Berry Pinch are given plenty of development too. Canon events happen all the time – Twilight's ascension, Tirek's attack, the bugbear, etc – but only rarely is Silver front and centre and the story is written to reflect this. Written very well, at that, with consistently excellent character work. A really satisfying read that easily justified the time I spent reading it. Top marks! ★★★★★
As usual with Spotlight reviews, if you continue reading then expect spoilers!
This story covering several years of Silver Spoon's life means that she and the other foals in it have to grow and develop as the tale progresses in its rather episodic fashion.¹ This they do well – more convincingly, in truth, than the show itself managed. PatchworkPoltergeist writes the passing years smoothly enough that you don't see the joins, but go back and compare the early chapters to the late and it's quickly apparent how Silver's life experiences have changed her.
¹ Not a criticism at all. You could make a case for this being more a series than a single story.
Among the joys of The Silver Standard is how much care it took, and how much it made me care, about inter-foal relationships (not just with the CMC, though they're fairly prominent; Silver's crush on Featherweight amused me) and even politics – the latter never more in evidence than in a brutally gripping scene at posh private school Wisteria Academy. The author cleverly makes use of early-gen pony names here (actually, there are several little bonuses for old-school fans) and I have rarely been more relieved that my own school days are long behind me!
And then of course there's Diamond Tiara. Silver's shifting friendship patterns with her are far more complex and interesting than the show could ever provide, and this continues all through. As just one example, remember the scene in "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" with Diamond symbolically helping Silver mend a fence? In the show that's just a quick bit of heartwarmingness. Here, though, it's a moment in a much more complicated time in the two fillies' relationship.
Mind you, relationships are not all about friends and foes of the same age. Both Silver and Diamond Tiara sometimes struggle to swim in the shifting currents of their own family lives. Spoiled Rich's spiky relationship with Diamond's birth mother is an interesting touch, and one that adds an extra edge to her character. As for the Silvers, they're an old family, which makes the occasional black sheep (step forward Silver Shill) all the more noticeable.
The Mane Six appear here and there, some more prominently than others. One example that really sticks in my mind is PatchworkPoltergeist's brilliant notion that Silver Spoon is – like Pinkie Pie – a party pony, and so in one "episode" of the fic Pinkie acts as her mentor. Just that Silver is a tea party pony. Twilight becomes more prominent as the story goes on, unsurprising given that she becomes Princess of Friendship about halfway through and given "Twilight Time" and its fallout.
I perhaps ought to write a little bit about things in The Silver Standard that I wasn't quite so keen on – but in truth there aren't very many. My attention did wander slightly during a fairly long description of a school board meeting, not helped by the US-style procedure and terminology. Pipsqueak's Trottingham accent could have fallen into the "Bri'ish" stereotype that I find immensely irritating, but only on a very few occasions did I think it teetered on that edge. But quite frankly, if this is the worst I can think of in almost 300k words, then well...
Well, what? Well, this is a wonderful ponyfic. It gives a side character, and one abandoned (with Diamond) by Hasbro after S5 at that, vastly more development than the show ever did or even could have done. I was not particularly interested in Silver Spoon before I read this story, one reason (along with its great length) why I didn't read it earlier. Now? Well, I'm still not going to go seeking out Silverfics, but now it's because I can't think what they could tell me about her that The Silver Standard does not.
Exciting, eh? The first five-star review for many months, and it comes now. I'm delighted! Next week it'll be a return to more conventional reviews – and also a return to Wednesday publication. The five stories I'll be looking at then will be:
Applejack's Hobby by TheLegendaryBillCipher
Covering for a Magician by Chromentazol (review requested by author)
Twilight is Annoyed by Protopony350
Maniacal by ColdGoldLazarus
Piano Lessons by gapty
TEN!
ReplyDeleteMORE!
YEARS! :D
the ride never ends
Ten more years? You'd better be around for PR 1,000 then! :P
DeleteI may have only been around for just over half of these years (and really, I don't think I was reading Ponyfic Roundup regularly until a few months before COVID), but even the period where I was reading was mighty impressive. Ten years is monumental, and second only to Present Perfect in the longest-running Ponyfic reviewer. Bravo, bud. Bravo.
ReplyDeleteAnd this fic continues to be an absolute miracle, though not an undeserved one: the evidence of why is clear from reading it, as your top ratings shows. :) I've often noted how even 5-digit Ponyfic novels have pacing problems galore, but what's really afoot (or ahoof, if you will) is that the character dynamics aren't interesting enough to make the more tepid "plot machinations" scenes remain fully captivating, as opposed to just a means to an end. Well, this thing is 296K long, and even if it is really more like a series of smaller stories with overarching plot points (doing the math, this fic would produce 35-40 episodes if translated to screen, though that's before all the streamlining necessary for an animated adaption just for pace, never mind budget), that it virtually never wavers is a testament to that character work.
As it had been three years since I read the fic, I appreciated the "oh yeah, I remember that now" reminders of parts I'd forgotten. Like Silver being a tea party pony, or just how strong the inter-foal dynamics and politics got. Or that Silver Shill appeared and was a relative too. Among many other choices. I had wondered at times "does it really have enough content for its length, despite the amazing character work?" but that re-convinced me.
I also love Love LOVE how the fic handles working around the events of canon episodes. It's close to showing us scenes on either side with occasional contextual snippets, to avoid repeating what we know, but in such a organic, natural way that it never feels like that's what it's doing. Take it from me, that is a HARD thing to do.
There's truly little else I can add to this work at this stage, except that not only have I felt your feelings about Silver Spoon at the end, that nothing could top her as she is here, but I feel the same about Spoiled Rich after this fic and Patchwork's other fics on this depiction of the Riches. Can't read Spoiled done any other way! Granted, few are writing her, and to that many more Silver, but still.
Side note: this fic was actually started before "Crusaders of the Lost Mark", and Patchwork was quite lucky that, while Diamond Tiara's birth mother had been referred to by then, it wasn't too far to quickly retcon her as being divorced from Filthy and bring Spoiled into the picture. Not that many would have complained, fics match on when canon diverges all the time, but Patchwork got such great results out of it that I don't mind one bit.
Thank you for the kind words! Spending ten years on reviewing ponyfic is perhaps not the most impressive thing in this fandom, but I am quite proud of having kept it going this long without any long breaks.
DeleteI took up the cause of this story in the RCL's panel on best ponyfic despite only having read one chapter of it, which I know doesn't qualify me to champion it so much. But that came about for two reasons. One, that I'd barely read any of the nominated stories anyway, and two, that I so thoroughly enjoy everything by this author that I was perfectly satisfied to take it on faith that it was deserving.
ReplyDeleteI also love thoughtful explorations of underutilized characters, and I used to make more of a point of writing about them. I do have a Silver Spoon story on the revision pile I've never published, along with one about Toe Tapper and Torch Song, for example. Those are short, though. The only long-form one I've done is Cloudy Quartz.
Silver is such a great character design to start with, and she's in a situation that can go lots of interesting directions, especially since, as you note, the show itself neglected to do anything with her. She's one I've wanted to write more but never quite wrap my mind around a concept of her.
Yep, I read your comment about this fic in the RCL discussion. "[PatchworkPoltergeist]'ll have you rooting for characters you never thought you would, flaws and all" is exactly how I feel about it. I really do need to read more PP stories -- so far it's just Somewhere Only We Know, A Diamond and a Tether and With Your Shield Or On It, all of which I liked a good deal.
DeleteCongratulations on the milestone, and celebrating it in a very fitting way!
ReplyDeleteI honestly can't recall anyone giving The Silver Standard anything less than top marks, and that's down to PatchworkPoltergeist's masterful skill as a storyteller.
I avoided this one for quite a while, despite strong recommendations, because I'm just not that interested in foal-centric stories. Tales about the Crusaders, el al are almost always too simplistic, saccharine, or artificial for me. To my delight, this story went to great lengths in the opposite direction.
When I finally started in on it, I was hooked from the very first chapter. It wasn't just the compelling characters and situations, but all the little details that were such a perfect compliment to the main meat of the story. A superb meal is better with thoughtful curation, and that is something that PatchworkPoltergeist paid careful attention to throughout.
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this story to anyone who has the least interest in quality horse words!
Thank you!
DeleteI honestly can't recall anyone giving The Silver Standard anything less than top marks
A good job you commented a few hours before Impossible Numbers did, then! ;)
As for me, this goes in the "Why didn't I read this years ago?" file, and I'm very glad I've now rectified that omission. As I said to Pascoite, I ought to read more of PP's work, and not years down the line either.
Why isn't there a typographic emoticon for face-palm?
DeleteI'm not sure I recall your feeling about G5 necessitating an abrupt and tragic end to Twilight Sparkle's reign, but if you aren't too keen on the idea, I would recommend skipping Twilight Sparkle & The Martyr Of Zephyr Mountain. It is just as well written as PP's other stuff but it is appallingly depressing. PP makes it seem inevitable that a vile and manipulative child will bring about Equestria's downfall because Twilight is too nice to play dirty politics.
Mm, disagree personally. After so much and so much and so much hype, I started reading this to see what all the fuss was about - especially since it looks frankly unassuming at first glance (an obscure-bully-character slice of life... that's twice as long as the average Lord of the Rings book?). And I couldn't get into it.
ReplyDeleteSilver Spoon's too insufferable from the get-go, and why are they learning ecological terms at nine years old? That seems a bit young. The hell kind of name is "The Dink"? I swear the introductions of e.g. Cheerilee feel so paint-by-numbers. And for something that's been praised like a literary classic, its first few chapters felt about like reading a classic - more out of stuffy obligation than genuine entertainment. I couldn't find a character or plot hook to latch onto and care about.
So... pass on the rest beyond that sample. Sorry. Not my cup of tea.
Ooh, interesting. A pretty rare opinion I think, but interesting for just that reason. I think part of the joy of this story is that Silver actually develops, and as such she isn't quite the same character 200,000 words in that she is in chapter one. She is a pain early on, though, I won't deny that.
Deletewhy are they learning ecological terms at nine years old?
Tbh I don't find that particularly startling, at least for a reasonably intelligent class. The What is Biodiversity? lesson plan for Year 3-4 (ie age eight or so) pupils in England includes words such as "ecosystem".
Wow! Congratulations on these incredible milestones!! I have seen many a reviewer absolutely *rave* about this piece - it's high time I checked it out :) Your review, as usual, is beautifully and thoughtfully written. I'm so glad I found your blog and have been able to enjoy your thoughts on so many stories these past couple of years - and I'm excited to stick around for however many more you have in you!
ReplyDeleteSince I haven't read the fic yet, I'll have to hold back on joining that conversation. Instead, I'll ask you this: with ten years of experience under your belt, what's something you're hoping to accomplish in the next few? Do you have a particular fic you're dying to get around to, a number (of words, stories, reviews) you're hoping to reach, a piece you'd like to write with all of this critical knowledge you've gained?
Again, congratulations!!
First of all, thank you very much! You're too kind, really, but as a Fluttershy fan I don't think I can object to too much kindness! I hope that as and when you read this story, you too enjoy it a lot.
Deletewith ten years of experience under your belt, what's something you're hoping to accomplish in the next few?
Well, the main milestone on the nearish horizon is PR 500, which I should reach in mid-late summer. Sadly the obvious story to feature (Estee's Five Hundred Little Murders) has already had its day in the sun here, so I'll have to find something else.
Something I'd definitely like is to review a few more longer stories. In recent years I've heavily prioritised one-shots and other short stories, and in all the years I've been doing PR, I've only ever featured 51 stories with word counts above 50,000 and a mere 16 which break the 100k mark. I'm never likely to review a huge number of those -- I'm not PaulAsaran! -- but I'd like to add a few more. On which note...
If you want a specific title, then perhaps Monochromatic's The Enchanted Library, which won the RCL's "There Can Be Only One" event back in 2019. It's even longer than The Silver Standard at 337k, but so many people have raved about it that I want to at least give it a go at some point.