FimFiction Link - Short ID: 83518/we-fight-as-one
Published: Feb '13 — Mar '14
We fight as one is the first of two fics in the eclipseverse by the same author. It is probably best characterised as 23k words of pure undiluted cool - and unrepentantly so. Discord is not redeemed and turns the M6 to stone, and as a result, Celestia and Luna must fuse into one - a four winged alicorn named Eclipse - and have an epic battle with him. Discord's temporary defeat in chapter 2 prompts him to release his limiters and become a mindless beast that's even more powerful than before. Also, there are music links scattered throughout the writing for you to really get into the mood.
The depiction of action in this fic is pretty decent, which is good for a fic whose main appeal is action, action, action. There's a lot of creative usages of magic and tactics, and you really get the impression that this is a battle between two titanic forces of nature, with lakes boiling over, forests torn apart, mountains smashed into pieces. And to this fic's credit, I never found myself tired of reading its action. It's fun, creative, and dynamic. One particular use of magic deserves a mention here - besides teleportation, lasers and other common depictions of magic, this fic also have all its combatants use solid magic weapons - halberd for discord, a large sword for celestia, dual blades for luna and a chained scythe for eclipse, which are used for some really cool tactics - such as switching places with her weapon via teleportation.
Discord's characterisation here, even before he goes functionally mad, is far too harsh and brutal for his show's counterpart. It also, unfortunately, lacks his signature creativity when it comes to fighting; the author excuses this by saying he's desperate for his freedom, but it still comes across ooc. Luna and Celestia also decide to fuse far too quickly, to the point that we get a sense that the author just wanted to get it over with and into the cool part.
The resulting Eclipse mostly struck me more like a combination of the princess-y aspects of Luna and Celestia into one alicorn protector of Equestria, and not so much them personality-wise. I don't have much to say about the side characters - the M6 once they are unfrozen, Cadance etc - they don't really have the screentime to really show much of themselves.
We have a new LUS! The white alicorn, and at a certain point, the large alicorn appears, despite the fact that for much of the fic there is only one alicorn. Other than that there's not much to say about the prose. There are a few mistakes here and there but nothing major.
I disliked the obvious sequel bait at the end of the last chapter.
Overall, 5/10. A pretty interesting concept, alright execution of its main attraction, the fighting, out of a fic that really isn't much deeper than that. Outside of combat capabilities and a duty to protect Equestria, the fusion is largely underexplored and doesn't have much of a personality outside of that.