Fic recs, April 16th · 7:06pm Apr 16th, 2014
I didn't post any blogs since the last fic rec, how could I help myself
I’ve already reviewed Bad_Seed_72’s Anxiety, but after hearing the new reading by Chinchillax, I’ve decided to upgrade its rating to Highly Recommended. It’s just such a good look at mental health and the blocks that can come with it that keep us from seeking help. Also, Chinchillax is flat-out one of the best readers I’ve come across. I was impressed immediately upon hearing his opening (though he can’t pronounce “Owlowicious” and his Big Mac voice leaves a bit to be desired), and this is only his second reading. So there’ll definitely be more from him later.
H: 2 R: 1 C: 6 V: 1 N: 1
Dust by Pearple Prose
Genre: Trapped on the Moon
This is not your average TotM fic for two reasons. First, Luna is the devil on Nightmare Moon’s shoulder, which is a nice inversion that pretty much never happens. Second, TotM fics tend to focus on Luna going crazy, while this more sets up a loop scenario and focuses on the mental interaction between the two. That said, it doesn’t really go anywhere with its premise. It is at least a quick read, it’s just never left any impression on me (having been from a recent writeoff).
Recommended for Fans of Moon Fics
In the Orchard by Midnight Quill
Genre: Not What It Looks Like
Yeah, uh… So this is about Applejack bucking Rainbow Dash. And it’s very obviously meant to sound like they’re having sex, only it very obviously can’t be, except that the reality of the situation is far more bizarre than you’d really expect. I’ve never seen a more perfect application of the Random tag. This is one of those stories where I just can’t.
Recommended If You Like Weird Shit
Rain by alexmagnet
Genre: Romance
This comes to us from the most recent writeoff, where it took second place. It’s a well-written character piece that resonated with me somewhat, as I too have been an engineering student who enjoys writing. It’s about assumptions and coincidences and not really knowing what you want out of life. I seem to recall it having had a fairly tenuous poniness, given that it features OCs elsewhere in Equestria. But it’s still a good story, and definitely worth reading.
Recommended If You Aren’t a Stickler for Poniness
Temptation by Titanium Dragon
Reading by TheLostNarrator
Reading by Agent0Fluffy
Genre: Shipping
This actually comes off as a fairly unusual character sketch of Applejack, in that it’s told through Rarity’s eyes. The rest of it, though, is kind of your standard “Rarity falls in love with Applejack during a sleepover” fic… Except that it’s mostly about whether or not she should give in to the temptation to kiss Applejack in her sleep. I might have actually had less of an issue with this had Rarity not outright stated on more than one occasion that doing so would be wrong. But of course she goes and does it anyway because she wants to, I guess. Ignoring the subject matter, the shipping leaves something to be desired, coming in on either the “I’ve always loved you” route or the “we’re less than an inch apart, it’s time to be lesbians” one. And given that this doesn’t go anywhere beyond an admittedly well-explored moment, I’m not too sure what shippers would get out of it, even if it wasn’t ever so slightly rapey.
Not Recommended
Rainbows and Sunsets by SageBrush
Genre: Flying Lessons
This story needs a healthy dose of paring down. The first third is entirely superfluous. Sure, watching the CMCs try to earn acupuncture cutie marks is amusing, and could quite likely work as a story in its own right, but the only setup this needed was “after a failed crusade”. A quick summary would have sufficed, as nothing about the intro really pertains to the “real” story. That story involves Scootaloo finally realizing she can ask Dash to help her learn how to fly (hello, season 1!), and lots of introspection from both of them. But again, there are a lot of things, like the details of how a pegasus flies, that could have been done away with to give the rest more attention. And then, paradoxically, it skips forward through Scootaloo's entire life to show her at the Best Young Flyer’s Competition. There’s definitely a lot of great Scootalove here, but you’re gonna have to dig through a lot of slice of life chaff to find it.
Vaguely Recommended
Only Skin Deep by Pascoite
Genre: Dark
What is it about Rarity making dresses that lends itself to psychological horror? This is far more visceral than, say Expectations, but no less effective. Without going too far into detail, this explores Rarity’s drives when it comes to dressmaking, particularly for her friends, and of course she ends up getting rather unhinged by the end. The reveal is marvelous. This is a Pascoite fic, of course, and you really can’t go wrong by him.
Highly Recommended
The Basement by electreXcessive and TheExhaustedBrony
Reading by TheLostNarrator and DJSilverXY
Genre: Horror
Up until the foal in this story was named, I had to wonder just how pony it was. Child abuse is a hard sell in a land ruled by “sweet, merciful Celestia”, though I’ve praised stories before that feature it. So while I can’t say how realistic this scenario is for Equestria, even given the time period, once that name was given I couldn’t help feeling like maybe, just maybe, it was justified. And then it turns into a completely different kind of horror story! The final line is really cool, though overall this could have benefited from slightly more evocative language use. Still, for what this is, it works, it’s original, and it’s worth the read.
Recommended
As a Mother by The Descendant
Genre: Epic
Seeing a new Descendant fic that promised to go into any amount of detail about the War of the Witches, I could not pass up reading this immediately. I was not disappointed. Reading this was like reading The Somewhere Cycle for the first time, and I’m finding myself in need of a mental break to recover from it. The Descendant proves again that he’s a master at pretty much everything, weaving together a pitched fantasy battle between two armies with a heart-wrenching look at Celestia and what her bond with “her little ponies” truly means. It’s beautiful, it’s emotional, and it’s likely going to unseat Somewhere Cycle as my favorite of Descendant’s stories. (I now have a reason to reread it!)
Highly Recommended: Top Fifteen
WWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOO by Branded Penguin
Reading by TheLostNarrator and Magpiepony
Reading by Dr. Renegade
Genre: Trollfic
Yeah, I need a break after that last story, so how about something else that’s new, not to mention short and quite possibly at the cusp of starting a new trend of stupid stories? Turns out, it was just what the doctor ordered. Oh, this is by no means great, and even as trollfics go, it had a little too much “4chan humor” (i.e., sexism, racism and anti-Semitism) for my tastes, but I laughed all the way through. It’s a sort-of retelling of Best Night Ever with Twilight Sparkle replaced by a sentient fire truck. That’s it. It’s hysterical. (The comment at the bottom of the first page is priceless.) It inspired Estee to write a story where Fluttershy is replaced by a Sherman tank, and I might just go ahead and read that next.
Troll Recommended
Fluttershy Gets Replaced by a Sherman Tank by Estee
Genre: Random
Yeah, here we go. This, as it turns out, is a very different animal from W(etc.)E(etc.)O(etc.). For starters, Estee is an established writer, a rather good one at that, and I daresay he’s a bit too good to be trolling, so this ends up as something of an Adamsian random comedy that often feels like it’s trying too hard. Secondly, rather than just “pony is X now”, the plot centers around the titular replacement, with Fluttershy herself actually being in the story. There are lengthy asides, humorous dismissal of characterization, meta-humor, self-aware humor (which works significantly better than the meta), and entirely too many words. It’s equal parts funny and bad, but I give Estee credit for trying, because this is still fun to read. Some things just cannot be repeated. Hopefully, this trend will stop here. Right?
Recommended Only If You Like Really Goofy Shit
How to Save a Life by Bronius Maximus
Reading by Scribbler, et. al.
Genre: Hospital Drama
Finally, someone did their fucking research. This is a story from the perspective of Doctor Stable, and everything about his profession rings true. It should be known now that I am a stickler for realistic hospital procedure, despite never having worked in medicine and only having been in a hospital maybe a half dozen times in my life. Nevertheless, I at least can tell when the author hasn’t done any research and has gotten everything wrong, and this definitely has not done that, by which I mean the author did some research and got stuff right. Admittedly, most of my appreciation for this piece comes from the well-worked doctoring and the fact that Big Mac’s condition is the same as my own (only fatal). There is a lot of playing for feels (it gets hilarious if you read it as “it’s Apple Bloom’s fault her brother dies”), and the Doctor’s breakdown at the end was really melodramatic. But I like giving credit where it’s due, and it’s nice to see someone get something like this right for a change.
Recommended If You Appreciate Good Hospital Procedure in Fiction
When are you gonna get to my favorite fic? :B
Regarding As a Mother, TD previewed it to his group a short while before publication and yeah, similar reaction.
Speaking of The Descendant, did you read his recent railroad ponies fic? It didn't get nearly the attention that it deserved.
I think Rarity's great for this kind of thing because she's already seen to obsess so much in canon and work herself to the bone for her friends. One of my favorite examples was in "Look Before You Sleep." The tree had crashed into the library, and all she could do was make little topiaries out of the boughs. She had this little helpless look on her face the whole time, but still she kept at it, because... that's just what one does in that situation. She knows it's not helping, but she gets into automatic mode and can't help barreling onward. It's another example of wonderful characterization the show has given best pony.
2016534
He's already reviewed all of mine. You must have missed it.
2016534
Which? :B
2016767
No, I haven't. I jumped at Mother because I've been dying for some explanation of the Witches' War since I started reading Descendant's fics (or at least, since Variables). I've been hearing great things about it, at least.
2017083
RUN by Stereo_Sub. It's in my favorites box on my profile. Last time I said this, another commenter backed me up
2017095
I'll make sure it's on my RITL. :B
I'm glad that you enjoyed As a Mother, Present. The War of the Witches is a bit of my personal fanon that remains firmly my own, but I hope others can enjoy it too. Now watch as the "big bad" in the season four finale turns out to be Hydia and her daughters and my fanon goes straight to Hell.
I was wondering if anyone would catch my bad pronunciation of "Owlowicious."
I honestly just went into the recording booth, saw the name "Owlowicious," and stood there for several moments in shocked realization that I had no idea how to say his name. I only had a certain amount of time before I had to give up the recording booth so I tried to pronounce it how it's spelled... yeah... that didn't work.
And now I feel really stupid actually going back and watching how they pronounce his name in show. It's pronounced Owlicious.
I'm glad you still enjoyed the reading though!
2032767
It's actually "owl-a-wicious" (a pun on the name "Aloysius"). :B Although sometimes they get it wrong and say "owlicious". I always cringe when that happens. D:
You get a recording booth? D: I'm jealous.
2033204
"Owl-a-wiscious"? Aloysius- Al-oh-ish-us. Wow, no wonder I didn't get that.
That's actually a lot of fun to say now that I know how to pronounce it.
Yeah... for some reason the college I attend has a free recording booth any student can schedule to use. I really just lucked out on that one.
2033239
I have to tack up blankets in my bedroom :(
"We're less than an inch apart, it's time to be lesbians" cracked me up.
I actually didn't even know you'd done this! Thank you (says the dragon, four months later). Even if you didn't like it.
The story does indeed open with Rarity having feelings for Applejack, though my hope was that, in the course of the story, the reader would come to understand why she had the feelings and why she had to give her that kiss. I'm sorry it didn't work for you.
And I'm definitely sorry that it came off as "a little bit rapey", which wasn't my intention at all. Yes, what she did was wrong, and she knew it was wrong, but nothing... too bad happened, just (possibly) unwanted affection. She talked herself into it. And hey, it all worked out if Applejack reciprocates, right?
Well, assuming neither of them had mono, anyway.
2380609
It's my pleasure, or lack thereof! :D I'm glad the crack amused you.