Fanfiction Review: Darkest Before Dawn

I hope you're all enjoying yet another pony-free Saturday. With no episodes on the horizon for months, we've got plenty of time to fill with fanfics, talking about fanfics, and wasting our lives. So let's look at an older story, one that ended right around the end of Season Two, about Twilight's early years. Today, we're reviewing Sessalisk's Darkest Before Dawn.

SYNOPSIS:

Twilight Sparkle has just been admitted to Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, unaware of the many trials and tribulations that await her at that prestigious academy. Will she manage to make it through day-to-day existence at the most prestigious boarding school in Canterlot?

REVIEW:

Darkest Before Dawn is not a complete story in and of itself. (We'll get to the other meaning behind that in a moment.) It's more apt to refer to it as a series of vignettes about Twilight and her classmates, her family, and her relationship with Celestia. And in that regard, it's a lot of fun.

Each chapter is almost entirely self-contained. Twilight deals with everything from post-exam jitters to eating grass because she thinks she's costing her family too many bits, while also dealing with the herd of OCs that also populate the school. There's an insane gym teacher, bullies, discussions about zombie plans, and many, many other things throughout the chapters, and each one feels fresh and unique compared to the others. There is a running story through most of the chapters about Twilight's magic being sealed until she can master using it without having explosions like in “Cutie Mark Chronicles,” but it's mostly just running in the background, only occasionally coming to the forefront when the plot requires it.

All of the characters in this story are well-realized and interesting. This has my favorite renditions of Twilight's parents in any story I've read. Her classmates are also varied enough to remain interesting, while the teachers are a nice mixture of standard instructor types from throughout fiction. And Twilight herself is incredibly adorable. She's still willing to make friends at this point, but she also has her show-driven cleverness and booksmarts, tempered with a filly's understanding of the world. (Seriously, her discussion about the bird and bees is hilarious.)

One character you might have noticed I haven't mentioned was Shining Armor. That's because this story was ultimately finished and abandoned because of “A Canterlot Wedding” due to how the story would have affected the tale Sessalisk wanted to tell. There were many, many more chapters planned, and while I disagree with Sessalisk's choice, I respect the author's wishes and enjoy what's already here.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

The individual vignettes in here vary a bit in quality, but they are all enjoyable and fun looks into Twilight's formative years. While it's sad it'll never be fully completed, I cannot recommend what's here enough.