Fic recs, September 16th! · 2:22pm Sep 16th, 2023
Hey, for once I'm reporting on a new reading from TheLostNarrator first! She did TheOldPonyFromScene24's Rarity's Game of Cat and Mouse, with MagpiePony, IMShadow007 and eveeka9525!
And Midnight29 has done a reading of not plu's Button Dash!
Plus, you guessed it, VisualPony has done readings of P0nies's Luna's Alarm Clock and plaeowriter's Ladies Don't Freak Out!
So does anyone else here play Dordle? Like, you remember Wordle, right? Big word game on Twitter (it's called X now, ask your parents) for a while? Bought by corporate news and stopped being big? And this is the same thing, but twice. Anyway, I've been entertaining myself recently by imagining what ponies might arise from the combination of two words as their name. And let me tell you, many of them are not pretty. XD Though let me not tell you the names, because that's a spoiler. :c
H: 2 R: 1 C: 4 V: 2 N: 0
Teach Me! by CombatProductions
Reading by VisualPony
Genre: AiE Comedy
Twilight really wants to learn how to play rock paper scissors.
The joke practically writes itself, so it's probably for the best that the description lays out the entire premise. Thankfully, the writing is snappy and well-paced — if prone to explaining what the dialogue just told us — so this is actually a pretty fun piece in total. Just depends on how you feel about Anon.
Recommended for Anon Fans
The Light in the Darkness by zaptiftun
Reading by Agent0Fluffy, et. al.
Genre: Post-Cupcakes Trauma Processing
When Pinkie Pie has a horrible nightmare, Rainbow Dash does what she can to be there for her.
Yaknow, when I first read Cupcakes, I honestly would describe my reaction as "traumatized". That sounds overdramatic, but that's only because we tend to visualize trauma as big: open wounds, massive blows to the head, witnessing of horrific acts and so on. But trauma can be small, too. It doesn't have to last a lifetime but even then, it still can. And of course, not everyone deals with it in the same way. Which is my lengthy opening to say that I realized, coming into this, that the reason so many people have written stories about Pinkie Pie dreaming Cupcakes and then having a bad day because she's afraid she might kill her friends is so they, too, could process their trauma. I mean, in my case, I eschewed "it didn't happen, it was just a bad dream" in favor of mockery, but like I said, not everyone does it the same way. And as that very lengthy slate of stories goes, this might actually be the best. Looking at the stats, it's apparently a bonafide fandom classic, so clearly it resonated with an audience looking for catharsis. And what makes it work, I'd say, is two-fold. First, good characterization, not just through actions and dialogue, but setting touches like Pinkie's room normally being organized. Second, this goes past Rainbow just finding Pinkie and comforting her in the immediate moment, which is where a lot of stories of its kind stop. Yes, continuing on past there gives us a TV in Equestria for no reason, but this ends up being a lesson that you'll sometimes need to remind your friends they're still your friends. Now, does that make it worth reading? Iunno, but you could definitely do far worse. As classics go, I'd give this a three-point-five, maybe even a four, outta five.
Recommended If You Still Need Cupcakes Catharsis
Pinkie Tries to Find Twilight's Sweet Tooth by Zoshe
Reading by VisualPony
Genre: Comedy
Everypony says Pinkie Pie has a sweet tooth. So why doesn't she hear about anypony else having one?
This is a cute and funny one-shot about Pinkie being confused by a common phrase in the way that only Pinkie can. It doesn't exactly go anywhere with its premise, but it's still quite amusing and doesn't overdo Pinkie's oh-so-random character.
Recommended for Laughs
Foal Alone by WeirdBeard
Reading by Agent0Fluffy, et. al.
Genre: Home Alone Crossover/Comedy
Apple Bloom's family is getting ready to go on a big Hearth's Warming Eve trip, but she just wants to celebrate the holiday at home.
Once again, here's an example of a good crossover that doesn't hew too closely to the original. The first chapter will be very familiar to anyone who's seen the movie, and it's a lot of fun getting to see who's been slotted into what role. The Robbers in particular are a really clever choice. Well, they don't exactly fit the "smart one and dumb one" dichotomy, but this line is walked by having one of them be forceful and the other passive. Whatever, I was just rather pleased to see them being used this way! And Apple Bloom is actually a fantastic choice for Macauley Culkin's role, not the least reason for which is the Apple Family is the only one big enough that any one of their members could get lost during preparation for a trip! It's totally an easy premise to swallow! But what the author has done really well is distill Home Alone down to its primary components, not waste time with anything but most important bits — a montage is even called out as such, to my utter delight — and not try to shoehorn in famous lines because they're well-known. I had been apprehensive, for instance, about how the pizza delivery was going to work in Equestria, but the quick and simple solution is don't bother using that scene! Nor does Apple Bloom scream at herself in a mirror, though she does get to spout off at least one of Kevin's classic lines. In the end, the author was capable of deftly turning this into a very pony story, and I'd say it even has a different moral from its progenitor, and that's really great. Good character work, good pacing, some fun slapstick comedy, and you've got a solid ponification. As the author himself says, I'm surprised no one else had done this sooner, and I'm quite glad this exists.
Highly Recommended
The Most Uninteresting Man in Equestria by Borderline Valley
Reading by VisualPony
Genre: Sad HiE
He went to Equestria and didn't do much else.
I have a lot of thoughts about this, and foremost among them is "who taught people that writing stories about uninteresting things is a good idea?" Though in this case, this guy isn't completely uninteresting — his actions both before and after leaving Equestria are pretty engaging and tell us something about his character — his main trait is that he doesn't talk to anyone, and yeah, that's kind of boring. Moreover, I got the sense that he was mostly uninteresting to the ponies and the story took that as good enough and so kept hitting us over the head with "this is the most uninteresting man in Equestria", to a degree that I started to wonder just what it was hiding. It's not, I just mean… you get it. So I think in total, this ends up being an actual interesting, if somewhat brief, HiE ultimately let down a good bit by its presentation.
Vaguely Recommended
Good to the Last Drop by Esle Ynopemos
Reading by Agent0Fluffy
Genre: Comedy
Rainbow Dash scrapes the bottom of the barrel.
Oh boy, I guess it was inevitable I'd add more of Esle's mane six-centric minific collections to my roster someday. I'm pretty sure the other are going to end up here in time as well. As for this story, let's just say, and you thought Applejack learned nothing from Super Speedy Cider Squeezy. XD
Recommended
Applejack and Rainbow Dash's Bet by applejackpony2
Reading by VisualPony
Genre: Friendshipping
Sometimes, an artist has a vision. This person showed up on Fimfiction this January, posted this story, and disappeared four days later, not even having uploaded an avatar. And what did they leave us with? Honestly, not much. :/ This is a distillation of every Rainbow Dash/Applejack interaction from the early seasons, and not much more. It comes in three scenes, the first action, the second reaction, and the third emotional, and each is bookended with a mantra about how they had fun and couldn't wait to do it again. I want to find profundity in the simplicity here, but I just can't. I was bored. They don't even have a real bet, since there aren't any consequences. At least the character work was solid.
Vaguely Recommended
A Place to Rest by Feenkatze
Reading by Agent0Fluffy
Genre: Romance
Rarity is wading through the mud. Applejack is worth it.
You know I'm a huge fan of Rarijack. My usual draw to the pairing is the mismatch, the drama potential as these two ponies who couldn't be more unalike are drawn together and begin to clash. The lack thereof is why I've always found AppleDash, for instance, rather dull. But this story eschews the drama in favor of showing us what AJ and Rarity could possibly have to offer one another beyond "oh no, she's hot". Well, at least what AJ offers Rarity, since it's from her POV. The writing is solid, the character work is good, and by the end of a story that's mostly just Rarity trying to figure out her feelings, I was intensely satisfied. This is good work, and an author I'm going to have to read more of in the future!
Highly Recommended
Living Room Full of Salt by SoulstringsReburn
Reading by VisualPony
Genre: Random AiE
It's just so weird.
'Bizarre' is the word for this story. The author was somehow able to turn a dumb inside joke into a strange comedic… something that continues to snowball over the course of the story. Nothing about this makes sense, but it's fine, the ponies think so, too. And the reason why it's happening honestly caught me by surprise. It's different. Is this good? Iunno. But it also wasn't the disaster of "you really had to be there" that I'd been expecting.
Recommended If You Like Weird Stuff
I still play Wordle with my family - it's a good excuse to check in every day. I never played Dordle, but I did enjoy Quordle for a while (same thing but four words at once).