Fic recs, December 9th · 7:33pm Dec 9th, 2013
H: 2 R: 1 C: 1 V: 0 N: 2
The Song of Syhlex by The Descendant
Reading by Ichabod Creep
Genre: Epic Saga
“How could a colorful pony, a princess in a castle with a pretty mane,/Cause such fear in vast great dragon lords of old?” Well, here’s how. Why isn’t “Badasslestia” a Thing in this fandom? This is absolutely my favorite sort of portrayal of her, kicking ass and taking names back in the Long Ago like the pony-protecting, world-shattering sun goddess she is. That this tale is presented as a poem -- framed with a scene of Twilight and Spike reading it -- only serves to make it more amazing. I highly suggest reading it aloud, or at least mouthing the words to yourself, because that is definitely how this story is meant to be read. Formally, I find the poem intriguing, for I noted no patterns beyond seven-line stanzas. Certainly, there’s no rhyme, and if there is any sort of meter or syllable counting at play, I missed it. There is a distinct air to it, however, so I think the words were at least chosen far more carefully than is first apparent. And thankfully, the framing scene does have a point of its own, as Twilight and Spike have to reevaluate their opinion of their Princess and friend after seeing this side of her for the first time. It’s a poignant little almost-ending that really helps put the grandeur of the story-within into perspective. This is a true gem, standing apart from this fandom’s collected body of works by virtue of structure if nothing else.
Highly Recommended
A Morning Ritual by Honey Mead
Reading by Scribbler and Goombasa
Genre: Slice of Life
So my to-read topped 2500 yesterday, and now I’m panicking because numbers. In an effort to just keep it around that amount, Imma start reading shorter stuff that I’ve only recently added, for a change. So, Fancy Pants and Fleur are trapped in a loveless marriage of sociopolitical convenience and go through their mornings as they always do, wrapped in ritual and self-loathing. Then Fancy Pants reads the newspaper. This is not Fancy as I prefer to see him, but the characterization is reconciled with how I generally think of him, so I was able to accept it. Anyway, this all comes down to the ending; note how I phrased the summary above. This is just about the most subtle piece of fanfiction I have ever read, but I don’t mean that entirely as praise. What was going on ran through my head at first, but even by the end of the second part, I wasn’t sure what was going on, which is to say all the pieces are there, but there’s nothing to strongly confirm suspicions one way or another. If you’re not paying attention, you’re going to miss it, and even if you are, you won’t be sure of it until you go read the spoilers in the comments. This was quite well-written otherwise, though it seemed that for every excellent turn of phrase, there was one that was anything but, not to mention a systematic problem with comma splices and unnecessary fragments. I think this might be worth it, however, just be warned that you may feel dumb by the end of it.
Recommended for People Who Like Puzzling Out Meaning from Stories
Going Up by Chris
500th review of 2013!
Reading by DeftFunk and Scribbler
Reading by Hero541
You know, I’m not sure I ever said anything about DeftFunk in these journals. I’ve been following him for a while, so it just sort of went without saying, but here’s what I have: he’s got a deep, rich Al Green-style voice, a flair for the dramatic, and an incredible sense of humor. His readings come with text videos that are just as much fun to watch as to listen to. He’s not prolific, but that just means you can power through all his videos and watch him sooner!
Genre: Children’s Story
It’s not often I reread stories. There are few that I’ve ever read that are pure joys to read in and of themselves. It’s also a lot less enjoyable when you know what’s going to happen, especially when it comes to stories with twist endings, which I particularly love. And, practically speaking, I just have so much to read that there’s no point in going back over old stuff. So revisiting something necessitates an event like a good audio reading, and here we are. This story was written for the Hearth’s Warming Care Package sent to Kiki Havivy last year before she passed away, and was my favorite out of the entries for the contest. I can understand why it didn’t win, but that doesn’t stop it from having a place in my all-time favorite fanfics. It’s a story about Derpy being an amazing friend. Honestly, it’s just about the best portrayal of Derpy I have ever read, especially when it goes into what her cutie mark means. All she wants to do is make Carrot Top happy, and even though she sort of forgets the need to explain herself along the way, she does so in the most amazing way she possibly can. This story is built on pure joy and is probably the most wholesome thing I have ever read in this fandom. It’s certainly something I would support being shown to anyone we would normally balk at showing fanfiction to. If there are any downsides to it, well, some might find the narrative voice a little too playful. It fits the story, no doubt about that, but it is very coy in spots and there’s a lot of “You might think X, but actually Y” going on, so not everyone is likely to be as overjoyed by it as I was. But really, you can’t go wrong with a story setup like this, and I had just as much fun reading it this time as I did the first time.
Highly Recommended
The Fight for Cranberry Hill by Insert Pen Name
Genre: War?
I’ll start with what I consider the weakest part of the story, because that is the start. This begins like a lot of stories centered around foals that I’ve seen: they’re in some kind of warzone, but it soon becomes clear that that’s mostly just imagination, and they’re just having a snowball fight. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen it so many times, I'm not sure, it just wasn’t that great an opening. Then the next scene begins and the comedy comes in, and this really takes off and never lets up. This is a funny, whimsical story about foals battling it out with "playground rules". There's great characterization despite the large cast. (Readers may want to be familiar with the MLP Wiki’s list of foals to know just who’s in the story.) The humor is the real draw: there’s a scene early on where Sweetie Belle shoots down use of a meme; Pinkie Pie is used very well; all the war jokes are hilarious; and the writer gets away with a couple of things that absolutely should not work (this is the first story I have ever read that features a Wilhelm scream). There is a bit of “adult” humor, by which mean not explicit humor (though Rumble at one point says “crap” and there’s an exchange that’s impossible to read as anything but Twist coming on to Chowder really strongly), but lines that are funny by virtue of being grown-up language used by kids, so that won’t impress everyone. Still, this is a lot of fun, and definitely in season if nothing else.
Recommended
Feedback by Curly Q
Genre: Metafiction
You know what? Scrap that plan I had just a few reviews ago. It’s not going to pan out, and if I start reading lots of stuff by new authors, well, it’s just a matter of time before I’m adding dozens of stories to my to-read and then it all just backfires on itself and collapses. But I’ll read this one at least, because it’s short and I have nothing better to do at the moment. This story is unusual, given that, because of my normal reading style, I don’t generally get to see reaction fics while they’re topical. This one essentially bundles up all the fandom’s negative reactions to Daring Don’t as feedback about problems with a fanfiction written by Rainbow Dash about the events that really happened in that episode. Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with this as a setup, but for starters it isn’t pulled off well, and for seconds… Well, I just don’t agree. I mean, it makes a big deal about “they all stood outside Daring’s house watching her fight”, something I only kind of understand the fandom’s objection to. The scene made perfect sense to me the first time I saw it, and I think, after all the analysing and re-analysing that’s gone on over the past three days, maybe people are willfully ignoring the explanation for the scene because they still want to be mad about it. (inb4 everyone gets mad at me for saying that :V) Since this isn’t even an issue of liking vs. not liking, the story could still have some merit, but unfortunately once we get outside the letter, all three ponies are poorly characterized. The final scene kind of left me wondering what the purpose was beyond “buck all the haters” in fanfic form, and furthermore, why Rarity was the best choice to use in this story.
Not Recommended
Dreaming of Drowning by DecadeReliant
Reading (part 1) by FFFluttershy169
She’s got a good voice, decent character differentiation, and good volume outside her Fluttershy voice, which isn’t something unique to this reader. Her Pinkie voice sounds like Mabel Pines from Gravity Falls, so I’m absolutely down with that. She could stand a pop filter and to talk slower, which would also help with the hesitations (or an editing program, though I didn’t feel there were overly many). I’d put her squarely in the “listenable” pile and will probably add her other videos later on.
Genre: Dreams
The title pretty much says everything you need to know about this. Given what the title is and the fact that this comes from DeviantArt, my expectations were not high, and they were more or less met. Fluttershy dreams about being at a party with her friends, then going for a swim, and there’s lots of attempts at symbolism and she wonders about her purpose in life. I will give this one thing: maybe it’s just me, but my dreams aren’t linear adventures filled with obvious find-and-replace imagery. They don’t make a lot of sense, they tend to involve repeated actions, and they sure as shit aren’t represented by the dreams I usually see in fiction. So the fact that a large part of this story makes zero sense is actually rather refreshing and I appreciated it. That’s about all the positives I have for this, though. The writing is simplistic, Fluttershy is all “woe is me” Sympathy Sue, and there’s a random attempt at PokeyShy shipping because why not, I guess. Also Pinkie shows up at the end and goes Pinkamina and back for pretty much no reason. If anything killed this story for me, it was that.
Not Recommended
The Song of Syhlex was the second TD fic I read, and it was the first I read after really getting into pony fanfic. Needless to say, I immediately looked up a few more of his stories.
Going Up is a worthy 500th.
You hadn't yet read The Song of Syhlex? Maaaaaaan.
I never know quite how to respond to glowing reviews, so I'll settle for this: even though you've told me before how much you enjoyed Going Up, it still feels just as thrilling to hear it today. Thank you, and I'm glad I'm still entertaining upon re-reading!
This is exactly what I fucking desire.
1589693
Turns out I missed my actual 500th, two journals ago. <.< It was The Perfect Gift for the Perfect Sister, and distinctly not a worthy 500.
1589802
Reading it was part of a concerted effort to get more of Desc's stuff read. :V
1589893
ilu chribo <3
1590097
The sheer awesomeness of this story's climax brought tears to my eyes. It's that's fucking amazing.
Yeah, I'm the one who linked to you a blog post about from another blogger (Titanium Dragon) I respect as much as you, someone who thought Daring Don't was one of the worst episodes ever. I'm still curious to hear your explanation and rebuttal to all this sort of stuff. What IS the explanation for why the mane six stood by and watched Daring Do fight those guys alone? Why are we supposed to care about DD as a character? What reason does she have for publishing accounts of her exploits under a pen name as fiction?
Not that I'm defending the Feedback fic, since RD isn't going to fucking destroy Rarity's house because she didn't say her story was perfect. She is not that much of an asshole.
Also, I'm trying to trim down my read later list (I read in ascending order of wordcount). I'm not adding nearly as much stuff to it anymore, so I might actually get it down sometime.
1590218 For the first question, that's easy, it was the shock of finding out she wasn't fictional. If I was walking down the street and Harry Potter jumped out of a window quickly followed by Voldemort, I'm pretty sure I would have a similar reaction.
For the second, meh. If you didn't already care about the character based on her background in the show, who she was parodying, and her connection to Twilight and Dash, I don't know what to tell you.
For the third, why does this need to be explained? Expecting Hasbro to dot every single I for us is silly.
1590259
But she said that she can't let Rainbow Dash go with her because she deals in secrets. How does that mesh with publishing the Daring Do books? This seems like a direct contradiction.
Your second answer... I can see where you're going with that, and yet it reminds me of one of the (many) problems of Man of Steel, that the movie gives no reason in its own continuity why the audience should care that Perry White and Jenny Olsen are in danger, instead relying on viewers being familiar with them through general Superman lore. But this episode doesn't seem as egregious as that example and I forgot that the show only focuses on characterizing about a dozen characters anyway.
1590288 Because she published them as fiction, and has apparently done a pretty good job of keeping up the pretense up until now? Her exploits might as well be secrets if everyone thinks they are false, and keeping Dash from coming with was most likely as much to protect Dash as keeping her from knowing the exact location of the temple.
Besides all that, given the double life she was already leading I'm not going to insist on taking every single thing she said as truth that must be explained.
1590308
Alright. I'm looking forward to seeing what fics come up to explain this rigamarole. I get the need to leave some things up to the audience's imagination, but there's gotta be a line between that and not thinking your plot twists through and I'm still not sure where this lands.
You always make me blush, Present.
1590218
I don't care enough to argue about it. This is one of those episodes that half of people like and half hate, and I guess it'll never be reconcilable.