Whenever I see something tagged as 'sad', I usually just avoid it. Seriously. As an Airman in his early twenties, I like few things better than a good shoot-em-up or epic adventure. When I see another sad-tagged Octavia story, I brace myself for something typical. I guess that's why it is important to remember not to judge a fic by its cover.
Author: ChaoticHarmony
When we lose all of what makes our world be special, how can we even bear to keep going in life? How does one even begin to start coping with such a thing? One cellist, called Octavia by those who knew her, does just this. She throws the cruel destiny that the harsh fates had bestowed upon her aside and stands proudly upon the stage of the world to play her instrument, her life, louder than any other.
She plays on the strings that make no sound.
Catch the review after the break.
The Strings that Make No Sound (Word Count: 8106)
People write about what they know. That's just how writing works. That's why almost all the fan-fiction I see written by the FOB community is military or war themed. That's why I always have to hold myself back from using all the techno-jargon. That's why there is a LOT of literature out there about poor/starving recently graduated English majors. Fan fiction though, is a chance for all of us to write about what we don't know, and that's why it comes in all sorts of qualities.
The first thing that stands out to me is the Octavia part. This is no dirt on you, all of you writers who have the lovely gray cello-pony in your story, but it always grinds my gears. I'd like to think I have a little edge on all those authors, because I actually played the cello. Not that I can speak to how a pony would use it, but as to almost everything else, yes I did the rosin, the playing, the carrying, and all of that. This story in particular his it almost all right save for one thing: unless your case is made of steel, it will not be noticeably heavier than the instrument. I would know, I walked to school a half a mile with it on my back each day for a year.
That little rant aside, lets get down to the story. I can't really evaluate the 'in-characterness' of the characters, as all of them are either background or OC ponies. The background characters, for the most part, hold true to the general fandom types, and so it isn't much of a distraction from the story. The magic here is the leading OC character: 'Key Note'. If I as a reader can hold a strong emotional opinion of said character, and then be willing to change it during the story, that is well done.
As for the flow, the story is rather jumpy. At times the transitions went so fast that I had to backtrack and read over what had just happened. Perhaps I'm just overly focused on my food, but if I were Octavia, I'd notice if half my sandwich disappeared on me, and especially if my wine glass emptied itself. The pacing reminds me of one of those 1980's martial arts movies, where you get about five minutes of story, then the fight is the story. It does get its point across, but I never really figured out what happened until several paragraphs later when it was explained.
On the flip side, the author captures very well the feeling that goes along with playing a well-rehearsed musical piece. Oh, and bonus points for the concept of Equestrian sign language. I caught myself holding up my fists trying to figure out how that would work.
I wish I could go into the story-line, but with a tale this short, it really isn't an option. I would like to instead point out that it does have a moral point, and no, you don't have to hunt for it either (and none of that icky, deliberately added in shipping-crud). Really though, while it is tagged as 'sad', I couldn't really see too much of it as being sad. This makes me wonder if FIMFiction would ever consider adopting a 'life-lesson' tag.
TLDR: Go follow that link. (And Dizzy, the TLDR still belongs to me...)
'red Sage: Hey Dizzy, I've been thinking... do you think Berry Punch would drink Everclear over wine, or vice versa? Or no preference?
Dizziestbeef: Well, her cutie mark is grapes, so I'd say wine.
'red Sage: Well I- But that can't... Yeah, you're right. Only Spangle drinks that stuff. *shudders*
Spangle: Hey, hey, hey!... I don't drink it straight. I just use it to add punch to my mixes... Don't give me that look.
