Fic recs, March 6th: EFNW edition! · 12:36am Mar 7th, 2014
I told you.
Everfree Northwest held a writing contest for a chance to appear in their conbook, and I decided to read all the entries. I’m doing this like I did with the batponies and won’t be linking to the stories; if you want to read the stories yourself, they’re here. Short, single-letter recommendations. Prompt is redeeming or showing in a positive light any show villain or antagonist. 66 stories (I’m skipping the GDocs links; also, I only count 64 OH WELL). 170k words. Let’s do this.
Highly Recommended: 1
Recommended: 9
Conditionally Recommended: 9
Vaguely Recommended: 13
Not Recommended: 30
Incomplete: 2
The Comforting Heart of Darkness by Harmonic Revelations: Discord thinking about stuff. Well written, but definitely something I’ve seen before. V
I Promise by Diamond Wings: Derpy takes in a heavily pregnant Trixie, and then we get to see the foal a few years later. Suffers from the word count limit, also fast pacing, typos, shallow characterization. N
Dr. Caballeron in: Daring to Change by Comet Burst: Caballeron reaches a limit with Ahuizotl and calls on Daring Do for help. Nice characterization, maybe a bit too sympathetic, and maybe a little romantic subtext. Only a few typos here and there. C, for Daring Do Fans
A Mother’s Love… by Mayhew Cullen: Chrysalis has a magical love-baby and calls on Celestia to care for her after her death. POV shifts abound and stilted writing undercuts the characters. Ending is sappy. N
Apple of My Lie by Sharp Spark: Young Flim and Flam attempt to bamboozle a young Applejack out of a pie. Flim develops a crush. Kind of an implausible situation, but well written and well characterized. Really cute. C, If You Don’t Mind Canon Breakage
The King in Crystal (Reading by Scribbler, Reading by Lotus Moon) by The Headless Horsepony: Twilight has a conversation with King Sombra, who wants his story told and remembered. Trades a bit heavily on “history is a lie”, but otherwise good. C, If You Don’t Mind Historical Revisionism
Worse Than Death? by ajvasquezbrony28 (Reading by Midnight29): Apple Bloom confronts Silver Spoon over why she’s crying. A decent idea executed poorly, with lots of simple typos and fast pacing. Emotional payoff stunted. Has a companion story called Worse Than Death, as Told by Silver.N
The Sacrifice by contodaslasganas: A battle is won by sacrificing the Elements and their bearers, leaving Discord a pony and dealing with the loss of Fluttershy. Telly and incredibly fast paced, skipping large events entirely. N
For You by contodaslasganas: Trixie fights Sombra for the sake of her assistant/surrogate son. Fast pacing and telling destroy any chance of emotion or sympathy. N
A Lighter Shade of Gray by S. Park: An amnesiac Sombra stumbles out of the winter onto a mare’s doorstep, and she nurses him back to health. Not bad, but relies too much on explaining things. Could be great with some editing. C, If You Don’t Mind Telling
From Riches to True Wealth by XSomeGuyX: After Filthy Rich’s business tanks, Diamond Tiara has to deal with being not, well, rich. She learns the value of hard work, etc. A little telly, but not terrible. V
Tarnish by KitsuneRisu: Laser-fine character dissection of Silver Spoon. Says a lot via negative spaces. Gave me chills. H
The New Friends by Fryguy: Filled with typos and fast pacing. Sentences should be paragraphs if not pages. N
Broken Gladiator by BronyWriter: A slightly convoluted discussion of the purpose behind symbols of good and evil, heroes and villains, from the Mane-iac’s perspective. Man, I do love Power Ponies fics. R
Darkest Before the Dawn by Michael Ravencroft: Sunset Shimmer returns to Equestria, only to find it beset by evil. Neat concept, but the writing is fast paced, telly and somewhat disjointed. N
Reckless by Pastel Pony: Lightning Dust mopes about getting kicked out of the academy and then tells Rainbow Dash a sob story about why she’s such a bitch. Not terribly effective. N
Through Another’s Eyes by Lapis-Lazuli: Derpy takes in a drunk and despondent Lightning Dust. Feels like a rehash of old Derpy territory in regards to her characterization, but a fairly decent redemption for Lightning nevertheless. V
Hello Sister by Michael Ravencroft (Reading by VisualPony): Trixie reveals that she is Twilight’s half-sister. A little melodramatic, and mostly just Trixie talking, but the awkward scene between them at the start is pretty good. V
A Dream of an Other by stanku: A really fascinating reimagining of Discord that leaves a lot of questions hanging. Love the narrative voice, though it may trend purple for some. R
A Letter Home by Cobalt Phoenix: Sunset Shimmer writes a letter to her brother, explaining why she left. The voice is really off, somewhat melodramatic for a letter and not really sounding like her. Mostly a long excuse for her actions. Would be better in third person. V
We’re Not Your Parents Anymore by warampharos: Discord visits his parents. I found this a little hard to swallow. Story is entirely telling. N
Reflection by LoyalLiar: Really excellent look at Chrysalis imitating a pony. The voicing is just perfect, with lines about her doing things with her host’s face rather than her own. Very unexpected ending. R
Feathers by Noble Phantasm: Somewhat clumsy friendshipping with Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara. Not sure why Diamond is written as a poet. My big problem is Filthy Rich has been shown to dote on his daughter more than this. Choppy writing. N
Gimme Sympathy by Closer-To-The-Sun: Gilda comes back to apologize for her behavior. Not much happens and we just have to take Gilda’s word for everything. Telly and fast paced, but I’ll give the author credit for a good Pinkie scene. N
Trying Your Luck by Closer-To-The-Sun: A straight “Flim and Flam are sorry and have turned their lives around” piece. Lots of typos, but generally somewhat better than the previous entry, having more of an idea of what forgiveness requires. N
Despicable Blue by Einhander: In order to pay off a rather sizable debt, Prince Blueblood gets a job. At Sugarcube Corner. A decent future fic, and pretty funny too. Anyone who’s worked retail will be able to sympathize. R
In Total, He’s Not That Bad by grey faerie: A letter to Princess Celestia from Screwball, pleading on behalf of her “father”. Not much to it, and some fairly glaring errors. Also put off by use of Button Stitch’s name. N
Compassion by Comet Burst: Diamond Tiara, lost in the Everfree, runs afoul of a timberwolf. Things don’t go as expected. Not bad, really, and pretty cute. C, If You Like Fluffy Pieces
Foalishness by Razalon: A very surprising look at Diamond Tiara’s dreams, her cutie mark, and her friendship with Silver Spoon. The writing isn’t exactly top-notch, but the story just gets better and better as it goes. R
Second Chances by Grand Moff Pony: Trixie is down on her luck and Twilight tries to help her out. A dull trope from season 1 that’s still dull post-Magic Duel. Decently written, but everything wraps up too easily. V
To Be a Better Dragon by Ph0enix: Garble heads to Ponyville to better himself. Awkward scene breaks and capitalization errors abound; really needs an editor. N
Sombra’s Song by Ursa Mechanica: A look at Sombra as a knight of the original Crystal Princess, before he became King. Might be interesting if it wasn’t incomplete. I
700th review!
The Revelation of a King by Tidal: Sombra dies and goes to Tartarus. Lord of Tartarus named for something from Halo. Kinda neat, though the writing suffers from tense shifts and close repetition. V
My Beautiful Marriage of the Broken Mares by Surry The Sad King: A lost Chrysalis officiates a wedding between two very unlikely mares. Wonderful surreal, fairy-tale feeling. Slightly confused by the ending, but this is good. R
The Real Deal by grey faerie: Trixie works at a magic show… I think. Fast-paced, choppy and confusing. Features textual music prompts for songs I’ve never heard. N
Applebloom’s Tiara by CaveRave: Apple Bloom meets up with Discord somehow and wakes up in Diamond Tiara’s body. Great idea, but it’s incomplete and has major punctuation and word usage errors. I
Bound by Blood by Treble Tech: After being cast down by the Princesses, Sombra awakes beneath the ice and apparently everything he did was somepony else’s fault. A neat idea, but not overly compelling, and a little clumsy, especially with emotions; good setting, though. V
The Road to Redemption by LittleMissRockr582: Fluttershy tries to redeem Trixie. 100% telling, with a healthy dose of bald emotional manipulation. N
One Last Mission by Strythio: Sombra, captain of the Royal Guard, is called away from his family for a mission. There’s a lot of focus on his pension. Definitely needs more words. N
The Rise of Shadows by StarliteRemedy: Sombra is set up as the brother of the Princesses, and tries to overthrow Celestia with Luna’s help. Told in a very direct style, fairy-tale like, but not overly effective. N
A Little Silver Lie by Serious Contemplation: Scootaloo and Silver Spoon are partnered for a class assignment, and Scootaloo learns what Silver Spoon’s special talent really is. Lots of infodumping and telling, and some really bizarre turns of phrase. N
Dissolution by Maddog10_20: Nightmare Moon watches the world beneath her burning. A little rough around the edges, but really cool. C, If You Don’t Mind Slightly Shaky Execution
Saving Equestria: VampPony Invasion by sparkleshy: I couldn't read this. This writer needs an editor badly. N
Changeling to Fit the Role by Darkentrophy: Chrysalis laments her defeat and realizes she had feelings for Shining Armor. Not perfect, but I started laughing at the chapter title and kind of never stopped. It’s dumb, but in a good way. C, If You Like Silly Comedies
A King’s Duty by Flint-Lock: King Sombra has brought the Crystal Empire into the industrial age for the war effort. Going AU to make a character sympathetic is kind of cheating, but this takes a decent angle on his character. Rough around the edges. V
Community Service by Flint Sparks: Lightning Dust is a foals’ flight instructor. Needs a good editing pass, but honestly far better than I expected. Good emotions without manipulation. R
Left in the Dust by RainbowBob: Lightning Dust is Scootaloo’s older sister: a ridiculous concept pulled off quite well. I’d have preferred a more direct confrontation between sister and idol than what happens at the end, but I really can’t complain. R
An After-School Meeting by NodoubtbuodoN: A conversation without characters, not bad but hard to follow, due to voicing and a lot of repetition. Who’s talking is not quite who you expect, but the ideas expressed are fairly standard. V
On the Run by Murba: Trixie is running from the law in Trottingham and takes shelter with a filly. Needs some editing. Presented as a prologue to something longer, but does stand on its own. V
Reformation by Regidar: Discord, bored and reminiscing about things he’d rather not think about, gets a visit from Fluttershy. Well-written Discord, but the narrative is telly at the beginning. C, For Discord Fans
In the Shadow of the Sun by Quillery (Reading by Illya Leonov, et. al.): The Elements of Harmony didn’t free Luna from Nightmare Moon, but Celestia is determined to have her sister back regardless. Another AU, a little hard to figure out, but I just did that for you, so there you go. Excellent Celestia. R
Trixie’s Clubhouse by Bootsy Slickmane: Trixie runs a children’s television show. Would have liked to see more Twilight crashing the show, but it’s still fun. Gets a little expository toward the end, but I enjoyed this. C, For Trixie Fans
Waning Sunset by Impurity: Celestia endures an attempt on her life. Very short and suffers from a lot of small things, including a lack of explanation for the events. The scene at the start with a young Cadence is nice, at least. N
Secrecy vs. Curiosity by Impurity: The CMCs investigate the mysterious new magic teacher, who is obviously Trixie. I think this is TrixieShy shipping. Fast paced and doesn’t explain much, author is setting things up for later. N
Rogues Anonymous by Nyronus: Discord runs a support group for reforming villains. Pretty funny, but needs some more meat. And punctuation. The point of this story is fascinating. C, If You Don’t Mind Minor Flaws
My Penance, My Plans, My Hope by Blood Brandy: Luna observes from the moon the events that will set her free of the Nightmare. I can’t say much against save that it’s been done and it doesn’t really go anywhere. V
Diamond Tiara’s Coming Clean by Anisakis185: Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon decide to help the CMCs with stuff because... they’re completely out of character. Also suffers from word usage problems and awkward phrasings. N
Trixie’s Number One Assistant by Rustle My Jimmies: After getting heckled out of another show, Trixie tries to figure out what she’s missing. Turns out, it’s a dog. Kind of hollow and suffers from telling. N
A Lost Love, an Evil King by SacredHooves: Sombra was once pure of heart and married. Told in a very stilted, fast-paced manner. N
Clouded Apologies by charyoshi: Gilda contemplates repairing her friendship with Rainbow Dash and wrestles with her demons. Not bad, aside from structural issues, and thankfully doesn’t resort to shipping. Kind of long on monologue though. V
Forced Hooves by DarqFox: Paints Luna’s transformation as resulting from wanting to provide for the starving batponies. Entirely unbelievable. N
Momma by 5thWriter: Chrysalis tries to excuse her actions with “I was doing it for my children”. (Getting tired of this kind of “redemption”.) Telly. N
The Magic of Leadership by Silver Letter: Flim and Flam try to take over Ponyville. Not sure how this is supposed to make anyone look sympathetic. Features poor (Zecora) dialogue, telly, choppy narrative and fast pacing. N
Lightning by BlazzingInferno: Lightning Dust crashes and loses her ability to fly. Works at a bookstore, tries to save it from fire, Celestia heals her. Clumsily executed. N
Food for Thought by Crispy42: A changeling soldier does things. Wall of text with lots of basic issues. N
Fireworks for a Princess by Silent Strider: Various ponies conspire to help Trixie. I have to say, the text boxes fit a journal/letter format well. Some decent humor but also some typographical errors and shaky characterization. V
I noticed toward the end that there were a lot of Sombra fics, so I thought I'd tally up just who this fandom though was worthy of redemption, or at least sympathy.
Tickling the fancies of but one person each are Dr. Caballeron, The Mane-iac, Prince Blueblood, Garble the dragon, the changelings separately from Chrysalis, and -- believe it or not -- Twilight Sparkle!
Gilda had two stories; I guess she's too season 1. The Flim Flam Brothers tied with Sunset Shimmer at 3. Nightmare Moon got 4 sympathy votes, though in at least two of those she was Luna, but they're the same pony anyway.
Silver Spoon got 5 votes and Diamond Tiara 6. Most interestingly, only one story attempted to redeem them together; most treated them separately, deciding that their friendship wasn't real. Also interesting was how many fics saw Silver Spoon as a nerd and a loser before Diamond Tiara came into her life. Lightning Dust ties with the tiara-wearer at 6.
Chrysalis and Discord tied at 7, but come on guys, Discord was already reformed!
That leaves just two. In second place, it's the one, the only, the guy the fandom wishes had a ton more characterization because he looked really cool: KING SOMBRA!
But he could not unseat the pony who is, apparently, still the fandom's favorite sympathy rag. That's right, our favorite antagonist to redeem is The Great and Powerful Trixie, who skunked Sombra 12 stories to 10.
Aaaand then there were two authors who forgot the point of the contest and painted their villains in unsympathetic lights. :B There were lots of new writers coming out for this, many with their very first stories on Fimfic, so what I'm saying is, let's not hold it against 'em. Keep writing, guys!
Whoo hoo, I did decent!
Hold up, what's the 'I' stand for? I know the others, but I'm blanking on the I. Sorry for the stupid question.
1902647
Incomplete! Can't give recommendations to stories that aren't finished, after all! (Sombra's Song was the better of the two, though if the other could get an editor...)
Four years after the fact and Trixie still gets all the writers behind her. Why won't they just leave her alone?!
Good job on powering through these!
Ah-HA! Mathematically speaking, you could not have read all of these stories since the contest deadline, plus the Augie contest entrants, plus eaten and slept. As the first two are accounted for …
I have discovered Present's terrible secret. He is a time-travelling killer rob☁. . . . . .
1902770
You underestimate how much I skip words while reading shitty stories. <.< There was a lot of that happening. Also I'm unemployed. :(
1902770
He is a robcloud? What?
Yes he is. He also tastes like vinegar cactus blumpchips.
Also, my chest swells. It might be pride, it might be an infection. All I know is that my constant pain isn't as painful right now.
C? The fuck is that?
I guess it's not bad though, so I'm glad I at least scored that.
Thanks Present, m'man.
Might we get a guide on what the letters represent?
I only just now realized that KitsuneRisu and Kits are, in fact, two different people. I was wondering if Kits actually quit the fandom or not for a while there.
In other news, WHY CAN'T I HOLD ALL THESE RECS?!
1903862
1903888
Recommended under the following Conditions. :B And then Highly, Recommended, Vaguely, Not. And I for incomplete fics.
I wish there was somewhere easy I could put something like that up.
And then you went and said my idea wasn't very good.
But obviously you didn't read the description very well. 
Even though my story winded up lower on the list, I'd still like to thank you for your review at all (and even though it isn't my place, I'd like to further thank you for taking the time to review all the stories even though you didn't have to). I've been wanting to read more of the stories from this contest and this gives me a decent spring board to start from since I don't have time for them all.
Not sure exactly which turn(s) of phrase you found bizarre, but I take it as a complement either way, even if it negatively affected the review.
I thank you for your opinion and I kinda understand my rating. Really, the theme just was kinda difficult for me to work with. I actually wanted to do a Gilda one, but couldn't come up with any complete ideas after a couple of weeks and shifted to Nightmare.
I realized when I posted my chances were slim to none, but at least I got a V, not an N, so that's something
Edit: The worst part was, a couple days after the deadline, I actually remembered an idea I had months ago that would have fit perfectly and sorta fell into my mental 'do later' file. I kinda kicked myself for that
For better (or for my case worse), thanks for giving me your opinion on my story, I just can't figure out what I'm always doing wrong :(.
Anyways, I couldn't find your highly recommended story for some reason, which one was it?
1904324
He highly recommended Tarnish by KitsuneRisu.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but is that 'what' needed in this sentence?
Also, thanks for taking the time to review all of these stories. I'm also delighted to see mine apparently stacks up considerably well against some of the more prolific writers on this site.
1904334 of course it would be that story.. Ah well, I never went into this thing to win, I guess, still, do you know someone who can help with my paceing and grammar problem?
1904173
Yeah, I thought "C = Conditional" a little after I made that comment.
In the beginning of your blog post? Oh hoh.
1904173 yaaaaay
1904208 he recommended your fic
1904767 but on my story comments he said it was a bad idea
1904768 I also checked the comments and he said that making it a sequel to an existing fic of yours, one which requires to be read in order to understand elements of the story, is a bad idea to enter in a contest based around one shots. That IS a bad idea.
1904773 The story can stand on its own without reading the main story...
I even said that in the story description. You don't NEED to read the first story to appreciate it.
That was the point.
1904778 You said in the comments that the elements PResent was confused by were explained in the other story.
Look dude, just accept it. He recommended your fic, which is better than what I got (for good reason; I read it and it was nice), but there's some shit that would hurt you in the contest because it's a sequel.
1904791 Then I suppose I'll just accept my failures.
I really don't care. I was planning on writing it long before this contest anyway.
I appreciate your review, although it was a little bit unspecific. Anyways, it's good to see I did decently.
1903191
I knew mine wouldn't turn out as I expected. It's still my first time writing a story for a contest though I still don't get the phrasing part. Thanks for the review presentperfect. D:
I'm normally very friendly with my commenters and any reviews but yours rubs me the wrong way.
After some thought, I think it's your overly vague review. It sounds too much like, 'It has problems, fix it.' Can't you go into more detail about why you didn't like the stories? Otherwise I can't fix them.
1904288
This, right here. I'm really not sure what you were getting at, but this sentence contradicts itself.
1904298
I usually enter every writing contest I can, but I skipped this one because none of my ideas were 3k words long.
Except then I realized there was one that was, after reading all the entries. D:
1904324
Just remember there's no race to get to the "good stuff" in your story. (Pacing is an issue I have to deal with too, so I know what it's like.) See if you can't find another writer -- or more than one! -- who'll look over your work and provide feedback before you post it. :)
1904369
Haha! It's not necessary when I forget to include the verb, no! :D
1904795
Sorry my comment was unclear. :( Really all I meant was that writing a sequel or sidefic for a contest is never a good thing to do, because you can't count on your audience having read the previous works. I did this myself once, and suffered because of it. But the only portion of your story that was a problem for this was the very ending, like I said. You should really be celebrating a victory here, because the rest of it was just great and you've gotten one more reader interested in your work. :)
1904895
Yeah, I can only be sort of general if I don't want to spend hours upon hours writing reviews. And with that in mind, I kind of started off in a rush, and I apologize. Honestly, though, with stories that I feel don't really tread new ground, all I can suggest is keep writing. :)
1905510
There were a lot of sentences in your story that don't make a whole lot of sense. "They were absolutely excited with a whole lot of flair" from the first paragraph, for instance. There are some spots where your word choice isn't quite right, either, like "Do you mind if I could do some gardening". You might want to get one or two writers who can look over your work and provide feedback before you post it. :) And congrats for making it through your first writing contest! :D
1905731I know your right, and it's a shame that I won't win this contest, but I don't care, I came out a far better writer out of this with new friends to help me out. Would you be one of those friends as well? I'll fallow and proof your works as well.
1905707
I wrote short reviews to save myself time. These journals are presented as recommendations for my followers, primarily, but since I tried to point out at least something wrong in each entry, I figured it might be worth letting the writers in on it as well.
Plus, I can totally go into more detail since you asked! :D Let's start with In Total.
First, the Button Stitch thing? I'm just worried about plagiarism. It's totally okay to homage a story you like, and I happen to love that series myself, so apologies if I was a little overprotective of it. :(
Anyway, I said this had some "glaring errors", so let's see what I can find quickly. "There is a favor I wish to impart upon you" is from the first paragraph. This is a usage error; rather than "impart upon", it could just be "ask". Your sentences tend to be short, which makes the narrative very choppy -- a criticism I have for the other story as well -- and in many cases, you could and should combine two or more with punctuation, because you've got fragments. See "Yet, he is not evil. And he would never be." There's really no reason for a period there.
Mainly, the problem with this story is that it doesn't progress beyond an idea level: Screwball considers Discord her father and she's pleading on his behalf. That's all there is to it. There's no conflict (though it's certainly implied, between herself and Celestia), there's no character development, and nothing changes by the end. These are the elements that make stories stories, and incorporating even one could take this beyond just the basic idea behind it.
As for Real Deal, I have to admit, I couldn't figure it out at all. I think you based the play off of something, is that right? Whatever it was, I'm not familiar with it, and that left me at a loss to interpret lines like "Which is big as he's an earth pony who a higher spirit choose as his 'Shepard'." I honestly could not figure out what that meant. Again, your sentences are short and choppy, and there are a lot of fragments that could be incorporated. Try reading your own work aloud to yourself sometime. Read it the way it is on the page, not how it sounds in your head, and see if the two line up. You'll also be able to hear how the words sound near each other, and how the sentences flow together.
1905760
I'd love to, but I've got too much on my plate as it is. Really though, just keep writing, and keep reading, you'll pull ahead given enough time. :)
1905731 Mind fixing it then, just so I can know your whole opinion of my entry?
1905794 no problem, I'll just fallow you, and if ever you have time, or need a proof reader, just give me a message ;)
1905781
I loved Button Stitch enough to make it apart of my headcannon, so no need to be protective there!
I tried to make the letter more formal and wordy. There's fragment in some parts so that it has the same pauses a person would take in normal speech. I wrote it like I would dialogue and people don't talk in perfect sentences. I hope that explains my style.
The 'conflict' in the story that I trying to show was 'There are things you just don't understand'. Screwball is trying to make clear to Celestia that she might not have made the right decision because she didn't know everything.
The big problem with The Real Deal was that there were lyrics that made it all very clear but they had to be taken out. I didn't have time to fix it so I just asked in the notes to go listen to the song. You don't need to have seen the movie to get the scene. It just felt too prefect as a comparison between Trixie and Twilight.
And just as a little note, I did tutoring in writing and I gave that same advice! It's just my writing style you may be running up against.
1905794
All I did was take it out. :V
1905905 Okay, thanks for that; I can't stand it when someone praises my work and messes something up while doing it. OCD is a curse, it is . . .
Hmm. The only thing this tells me is that I shouldn't edit myself. I'm inclined to believe you found my writing choppy because I had to cut all the excess phrasing I usually use in order to stay within the word limit. I suppose I have no choice but to bite the bullet on this one though. It was all rather vague, so I'll stick to the advice I've received that was clearer towards my story's problems. I've had others say my story flows quiet well, so I can only assume the rhythm is a matter of preference if it merits such clashing opinions.
1905731 thank you, it was such a fun experience though. :3
Copy-paste at beginning of reviews. The post is a thousand lines long anyway; 5 lines more won't hurt.
1903925
Yes. Yes we are two different people. >_>;
Not the first time we've been mixed up, though. Because of this, a lot of people have taken to calling me 'Rissie' instead.
1906333
Also, yes. No excuses now, PP.
1905989
That'll happen if you cut out a lot of stuff. It's not a big deal, though, just put it back in once the contest's over! :D
1906333
But then I need somewhere to keep the copy-paste... :/
1906996 It will be simple if you use a computer to write your posts, instead of willing TCP/IP packets into existence with your psychic energy.
1905731
Is my writing style decent, at least?
I ended up reading all of the recommended ones to see which one my favorite is, and I couldn't decide between Tarnish, A Dream of an Other, and Despicable Blue.
1907335
"Get a superpower!" they say. "No, wait, but don't use it!" they said.
1907430
Yeah, I'd say you're decently on there. :)
1907441
Despicable Blue is everything I love about Blueblood redemption fics. :D
Can't really say I enjoyed Tarnish all that well, Pinkie Pie was just really creepily intuitive and mind readery. It basically flowed like a lot of other Silvy stories though with a much better presentation in the first person. Still, it was too cliche step by step for my tastes though.
Tarnish, yeah, that I'd say C: If you really like Follower Spoon, and Creepy Pie, this one beats out most other Spoon fics. But I'm glad she got some love this contest so meh, R if only because it at least showed.
I'm glad some of my favs got on the list, I really enjoyed the Community Service fic with Lightning Dust, Broken Gladiator, Foalish, and wow someone did a Scootaloo is Lightning Dust's sister? It was cute seeing LD shrug off the academy thing like she was too good for it.
There are so many stories I didn't get to read. Never got to any of the Sombra fics or that one changeling story I had left unfinished.
Trixie's Clubhouse I guess if you look at it as a SHIP then it could be for Trixie fans, though I see why you'd say that given how "interpret me" it was at the very end.
I thought the Timber Wolves story was with Rose and not Diamond Tiara? I think I may have mixed up my timber wolf stories. :P
All in all, grats to all that entered. Hopefully I'll be able to finish up more of these entries. Lot of fun interpretations on characters.
Also, I'm rather confused by what you meant "We've seen Filthy dote his daughter more than this.", I have no idea what that refers to. I'm also confused why the concept of her having a hobby for poetry is any better than what we got in Tarnish, but I'll leave that one be. All I'm saying is that it probably deserved at least a Conditional. It was a rather good read after all, compared to others with C or R.
And that's it really. I wonder what will be next year's prompt.
EDIT:
I guess it's probably why I enjoy Mudpony's Silver Spoon so much. She feels more relatable and more like her show counterpart, but with added quirks that actually add to her character. Yuki does a pretty good Silver Spoon too, rather like his Feud Between Friends story.
1910867
We've seen Filthy Rich, what, once? Just Family Appreciation Day? I didn't see him as an absentee father at all. He loves his daughter, he obviously is the reason she's so spoiled, he dotes on her. It would be possible to set up a story so that this isn't the case (he was just in town for this one school project, say), but no effort was made to justify it, so his characterization in that story didn't sit well with me.
1911159 Oh, okay, I was just wondering since I didn't see which part of the story you were referring to.
Yeah, he seems very obsessed with undercutting and winning over others. Though he did have a couple small scenes he did carry himself in a way you can get at least a few interpretations from.
I can totally see how DT would misinterpret his dealings to be 'diplomatic' and 'fair' and twist those stories or lessons into her own style of how she sees it. I mean, if she somehow came across her dad doing a business deal and did something that made her ask him what he did and him replying with "Diplomacy sweetheart. Diplomacy." I can see how she'd interpret blackmailing others to play with her newspaper gig after they refused to continue being as, ahem, smooth diplomacy on her part on getting the CMC to continue despite the town hating their guts at that point.
But yeah, we really don't know anything beyond Mr. Rich being a loving pa enough to have DT so rapt with attention at his every word of how he won so much money as well as not being shy of disciplining his daughter. When and if he ever notices her be bad...
Running a business and being in charge of making contracts and so forth can be exhausting. So, in a way, I try not to judge too harshly given canon hasn't given me any solid stuff for us to see Di and Silvy in any one way.
Do you guys over at EQD not like me or something? Two stories and both only got C's?