Fic recs, July 14th · 2:28pm Jul 14th, 2013
Haha, and it takes me less than a day to do another one!
DPV111 challenged me to go through his favorites and review everything. Long story short, my to-read is now over 1300 stories. :( Thankfully, I just went through the completed ones, and out of all those that either A) I hadn't already read, B) didn't already have to-read, or C) were mine (:D), I think I skipped exactly one, and that's because I hate Spike/Rarity shipping. There were also quite a few that I have bookmarked on EQD and didn't realize were here.
SPEAKING OF WHICH, DPV has helped me find a bunch of old favorites, so I thought I'd through some short blurbs up about those.
The Day My Beard Turned Into Pinkie Pie by The Slorg
Reading by MrKenyon
Genre: Equestrian in Humania
Did I ever review this? It was one of the first long-form fics I ever listened to, and my god is it hilarious. A Hell's Angel biker dude wakes up to find out his beard is Pinkie Pie, and that's about all you need to know. The biker character is great and there was, as I recall, a whole host of other great characters of the running gag sort, like a much-beleaguered pizza delivery man. This is comedy at its finest, not to mention an imaginative take on putting ponies into our world.
Recommended
Moonbeam by Laurence Brown
Genre: Luna Comes to Ponyville
YES. This isn't the first fanfic I ever read, but it was the first that ever came highly recommended to me. (I'm doing these reviews based on memory, fyi, so if I gush, it may be because I've forgotten any flaws.) Luna casts a spell transforming herself into an earth pony and goes to Ponyville to make friends. There, she meets a wonderful cast of characters with their own troubles and relationships (I particularly remember liking the Russian pine tree guy). This story is, in short, Sunny Skies All Day Long done right, but with Luna. And for a season 1 Luna, she's remarkably, y'know, not weepy and mopey, though she does struggle against the internal Nightmare. This is a really great story and it takes me back.
Highly Recommended
Moonbeam also has a sequel, Phases of the Moon, which sadly is incomplete, and it doesn't look like Laurence is coming back. :/ As I recall, I started reading it, and it delves more into the lives of Luna's Ponyville friends. I would also recommend checking it out if not for the fact that it will likely never be finished. A shame.
Ah Ain't Got No Ack-Cent! by Conner Cogwork
Genre: ComedyI honestly do not remember what this story was about and I don't want to spend all day rereading fics, so just trust me when I say, this is hilarious and memorable enough that I can say so without even remembering the plot. Obviously it has something to do with AJ's accent. Someone tell me what this story is about! It's great!
Highly Recommended Rating rescinded, re-reviewed 09/01/14.
Celestia's Teeth by Abalidoth
Genre: Comedy
Oh my god. Oh my god. Go read this story right now, RIGHT THE FUCK NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY YOU SON OF A BITCH. This is maybe the best comedy ever written in the fandom. I am quivering in delight just knowing that it exists on Fimfic. You will never read a more hilarious story about dental hygiene, bureaucracy, ponies, or any combination thereof.
Highly Recommended
Friendship Is More Than Meets the Eye by Tumbleweed
Genre: Transformers Crossover
I'm really surprised to see this one again. It's been so long, I'd completely forgotten about it. It's a tale about G1 Grimlock (and Wheelie!) crash-landing in Equestria, and hijinks ensuing. Grimlock is written quite well and it's a lot of fun watching him blithely comment on the goings-on as the ponies try to figure him out ("Everypony freeze!" Twilight whispered. "Large predators often have movement-based sight reflexes...I don't think it can see us as long as we stay still." "Me Grimlock see you." "So much for that theory.") I don't want to play this story up too much, because it is at heart just dropping characters from one show into another, but it's still fun, and fans of the original Transformers should get a kick out of it.
Recommended for Transformers Fans
"This story is, in short, Sunny Skies All Day Long done right . . . "
Most sensible thing you've said in years, PP!
And then, Celestia's Teeth. I didn't even find this remotely funny, so you're back to being wrong again.
-Scott
>Moonbeam
>Sunny Skies All Day Long done right
I'm not saying Moonbeam's awful, but... well, let's just say that I think your rose-tinted goggles are showing a bit here. And by "a bit," I mean "if you thought Sunny Skies was just okay, by all rights you should hate this with a passion, because it's worse at literally everything--construction, depth, characterization, pacing, EVERYTHING."
I did give it two stars when I reviewed it though, so I won't say it's terrible by any stretch.
>Ah Ain't Got No Ack-cent!
>Someone tell me what this story is about!
It's about trying to parse Conner's myriad writing errors and inconsistent, sometimes nigh-unreadable dialectualizations (which is now a word, by the way).
>Celestia's Teeth
>You will never read a more hilarious story about dental hygiene, bureaucracy, ponies, or any combination thereof
True facts.
1210548
I'm highly amused by this comment, if only because I have your and Chris's agreement and disagreement in complete disunity.
1210579
Yeah, I read Moonbeam a long time ago. :B
1210650 I am highly amused by this comment because pudding.
So there.
1210650
Scott can't help it if his taste in literature is objectively wrong.
1210662
Oh, hi Scott! We were just talking about you!
1210665 It's all right. Your neanderthal North-American punctuation probably just made it hard for you to understand.
Yeesh. I expected you to pick and choose, not blanket add.
Anywho.
1211353
Did you miss the part where I skipped one because I don't like Spikity? :V
Urf. Friendship is MTMTE would have been better if Wheelie hadn't been involved. Fucking Wheelie.
Ack-cent is basically Rarity using AJ as a model for a dress. She cleans up REALLY well to the point that AJ affects the prim and proper kinda voice for it when she catches sight of herself in a mirror and Rarity insists on taking her to a really NICE shindig. Hilarity ensues, with a silly twist at the end that had me giggling my ass off.
There's something of a 'companion piece' to that called 'Rarity's Rodeo', which takes off from the Sleepless in Ponyville episode and revolves around the truth or dare bet that AJ wouldn't participate in a rodeo, and Rarity WOULD. Cue AJ training Rarity how to barrel run, lasso, and all that fun stuff. VERY nice indeed.
1210579>>1210650
Chris is right. I only just started and the writing quality is obviously inferior. I'll let you know later if the plot holds up and better. I suspect that it will, since SSADL had almost nil by way of story construction.
1212159
Rarity's Rodeo is a companion piece, really? :O Because it's also one of my favorite shipfics.
1212391
Well, "companion piece", quotes needed. It feels like it's a sister fic to Ack-cent.
1210579 1210650 Finally finished reading Moonbeam, and all I have to say is that Chris is wrong on almost every count. Sure, the author could do with being beaten by the show-vs-tell stick, and yes, it could do with being one chapter shorter for pacing, and it's true that the ending is a cheese-fest of epic proportions, but still...
It's a story. And actual, honest-to-Bob, properly constructed, wonderfully characterized, actually interesting story. It blows Sunny Skies out of the water like full tactical nuclear strike. And you can tell how serious I am because I'm actually agreeing with Present Perfect.
That's pretty damn serious.
-Scott
P.S. I haven't enjoyed a story this much since The Proper Care and Feeding of Monsters
1213759
I think I win. :D
Huh. I was looking for reviews for Ah ain't got no accent, and
1210579 Chris and City of Doors both are meh about it. Also, thank you for reminding me that I need to read Celestia's teeth.
2404002
How did you even find this? c.c
I'm going to be re-reviewing Ack-Cent, FYI. This isn't really much of a review, and after reading On a Cross and Arrow, I just... I can't believe the same person wrote both.
2404156 the magic of City of Doors's master review spreadsheet. ^_^