Read it Later story count: 91 (-1)
Words read this week: 47,674
All right, two days late I know, but at least I've recovered enough to actually write this review now! These things are always easier if I like the fic, since then I only have the problem of not letting the review run away from me. This is shaping up to be an exceptionally boring intro para, so let's move on...
Mothering, Someday by Impossible Numbers
Twilight Velvet and Derpy
G4; Drama/Slice of Life; 48k words; May 2020; Everyone
Mare's Day, a tribute to motherhood. Twilight Velvet is the ordinary mother of an extraordinary family; Derpy is the opposite. They normally wouldn't cross paths, but in a town where an outsider can become Princess of Friendship, anything's possible.
Twilight Velvet is off to Ponyville to see her daughter, but she's nervous. She hasn't seen Twily since her coronation, and for reasons she's arranged to take flowers that her daughter will then give to her for Mare's Day. But before that, she encounters a certain wall-eyed grey mare, who she is desperate to avoid telling she's the princess's mother. The two talk and bond and feel their way and learn and don't learn and hint and infer and... well, and eventually they meet Derpy's daughters, who are very different indeed. From each other, and from their mum. This is a story all about insecurities, but despite that it's written in an assured way that isn't afraid to dwell on apparently small domesticities. My favourite thing here, though, is how Derpy is written: I hate the "Derpy is dim" approach, and IN absolutely does not fall into that trap. An excellent, if sometimes deliberately awkward, read about families and their rough edges. A very solid four. ★★★★
As you'd expect, spoilers lie in wait beyond this point!
As I said, I really enjoyed how Derpy was written in this fic. One of my favourite moments came after several chapters of me thinking one slightly surprising weakness in the writing was the way Derpy kept failing to spot "My daughter Tw—" lines from Velvet. IN is a better writer than that, of course, so I should have known better! A difficult trick to pull off, which I think was, is the way that Derpy is somewhat slow in certain areas and forgetful in others, but isn't stupid by any means.
I'm now going to jump to Amethyst, who was the most unexpected character here. She reminds me of nopony so much as Limestone Pie, and I suspect that was deliberate. After all, she has gemstones for a cutie mark and a strong background with Golden Harvest. We don't get to find out everything regarding exactly why Ammy (taking my life in my hooves there!) is as she is in this story; maybe it's Twilight's fault for taking her Winter Wrap Up job... I don't know whether there are any other fics set in this continuity, but if so I'd be quite interested to read them sometime.
Dinky is of course a completely adorable scamp, since it's a legal requirement that she be, but she's also sneaky and giggly and determined all in one. The scene where she catches Velvet sneaking into Derpy's "motherhood manual" room is both funny and somewhat heartbreaking. Speaking of which, there's very obviously some background to her that we're not being made privy too, as well: "Oh, my mother's still alive" and the associated air-frosting hit like a train.
What's interesting, and in true Impossible Numbers style kept lightly hanging in the air, is the age range in the Hooves family household. I'm possibly not observant enough to have seen any actual confirmation of this, should it exist in the fic, but Derpy seems in the show to be roughly in the same age range as the core characters and considerably younger than Velvet. Yet she has a filly the age of Amethyst? I can't help wondering whether that has to do with Derpy's clearly sad history with her own mum.
Or, indeed, mom. One small thing I rather enjoyed about this story, whether deliberate or not, was IN's use of a rather Transatlantic English. Ponies do washing up and put post through letterboxes, but they also throw curveballs and trains have engineer's rooms. It's like listening to Rarity, I suppose. :P On a more serious note, the style seemed to me to fit the story perfectly. It's restrained, holding something in, but underneath that there's a real love for Derpy.
Something that was really extremely interesting was Velvet's fear of her daughter's power. The Haute Cuisine vignette about the soup was a fascinating bit of foreshadowing of "Lesson Zero", and I didn't fail to spot the passing reference to Twilight possibly changing living things into other objects (hello frog-orange). It's a very different kind of fear to worrying that your teens are in with a bad crowd, and it's an element of Equestrian society I'd be fascinated to see explored more in ponyfic.
So, anything I wasn't sure about? The Haute Cuisine stories were all nice, and important for in-story world-building, but that section did last a long time and I felt myself slightly hankering after a change of scene by the end. Lyra's cameo was a lot of fun, though, and her slightly unhinged approach added a nice touch of levity to what at times was an emotionally demanding read. The ending was also very brief, and maybe the sentimentalist in me would have liked a real reconciliation scene with Twilight.
All in all? Mothering, Someday really satisfied me. The character work was extremely good, and that's always something I enjoy seeing. Everyone, even the bit players like Savoir Faire, came over in a way that fitted their roles. The fic asks some important and interesting questions about what family really means (hello Golden Harvest) as well as pondering on the insecurities of motherhood. There are more little touches than I can note in here, but that just makes it all the better.
As often happens after I'm late with an update, next week's five stories will all be very short. They are:
Friends Forever by Wrangle Wolfe
Mercy by TheNocturnalLoner
There Are Many Gravities by shortskirtsandexplosions
Thankful by LadyKimba
One Night by Mirta
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