Site Post » Fic Spotlight #09 · 10:02pm Jul 4th, 2014
A wise man once said nothing of particular importance. What was it? Heck if I know. I'm sure someone wrote it down at some point, though. Probably that quote resurfaced years later as an inspirational Facebook quote. I think it was really life-changing for me to have read that quote.
And now you too can have that experience by reading pony stories, where a crackpot team of authors has produced fictional wise horses to say fictional things of no particular importance! Will you put quotes from these stories on your Fimfiction profile to inspire people?
Probably not! But at least you'll be able to say you had the option!
At any rate, yadda yadda yadda, The Royal Guard picked out a bunch of stories here from those submitted to them. Yadda yadda yadda they're probably pretty good I don't know try reading them yourself yadda yadda the only thing you'd have to lose is your valuable and irreplaceable time, which slips through your fingers like grains of sand, never to be picked up again. Yadda.
If you're interested in more regarding The Royal Guard and their story recommendations, here're some links for you:
-The Royal Guard Group
-Submit Your Story!
-The Royal Guard's Reviewing Omnibus
-Join The Guard!
AND NOW, WITHOUT FURTHER ADO... STORIES!
This Week:
Action/Adventure
Quadruple Sonic Rainboom - Into Thin Air, by Sparks2037
Twilight Sparkle Is… Princess Under Fire, by PegasusMesa
Slice of Life
Pilgrimage, by Pascoite
A Friend of the Night, by Shotoman
Tonight, by Vivid Syntax
Comedy
There Goes the Neighborhood, by Prak
Dark
The Heart of an Author, by Oroboro
Only Skin Deep, by Pascoite
The Sundering, by GaryOak
ACTION/ADVENTURE
There’s nothing Rainbow Dash can’t outfly. Except her own ego. Find out how far she’s willing to go in order to break all of her speed records and plunge straight through the heart of her own sonic rainboom!
It’s an open question as to whether heroism and sacrifice will triumph over foolishness, fatal error, and pony frailty in Rainbow’s dangerous and ill-fated experiment.
Will I like this? An escalating series of events turns an ordinary day into an adventure beyond imagination in this tightly-crafted short story. Highly recommended for fans of world building. —Prak
Twilight Sparkle considers herself a learned pony. With the power of her intellect and a healthy dose of friendship, there’s no problem too big to solve. Or so she thinks.
However, when she criticizes Discord’s favorite action movie, the mad god takes revenge in a way that nopony saw coming—he turns her entire life into a summer blockbuster. Now, Twilight’s out of time, out of options, and out of luck, as... the princess under fire.
Will I like this? If a comedic action romp that pokes fun at every action movie trope that has a name (and a few that don't) sounds appealing to you, you owe it to yourself to give this a shot. —Prak
SLICE OF LIFE
Apple Bloom makes her yearly journey with her big sister, one that gets harder every time. But this year will be different. This year, she'll tell Applejack everything, even if it hurts. She couldn't do any less for somepony she loves so much.
Will I like this?Some stories, like this one, deal with topics that will probably never get discussed in the show itself—and yet the characterization is so in tune that it feels like you're watching an episode anyway. Pilgrimage is a great look at how loss affects people, and even at how it doesn't. —R5h
It's been a few weeks since Luna's returned from the moon, and all is not well. She's become more introverted than ever, rarely leaving her room and obsessing over work. Celestia hopes that studying Twilight Sparkle's Friendship Reports will at least help her get out of her shell, though an unusually talkative servant may just help in that regard...and is anypony else getting strange feelings from that statue out in the gardens?
Will I like this? A cute, novella-length tale of the events of season one and the beginning of season two, Friend of the Night is told from Princess Luna's perspective, where she learns the magic of friendship. Luna making a friend and waging a prank war with Princess Celestia? Sign me up! —GaryOak
"It’s that voice, that sparkling voice that sets my back shuddering and my muscles flexing..." They're always trying to get in Big Macintosh's head, all except one pony, a pony that means the world to him. Tonight, perhaps he can finally tell her.
Take a look inside Big Mac's thoughts in this inner monologue one-off. There's a lot more than he's willing to admit.
Will I like this? Tonight is an example of CheeriMac done quite well, and Big Mac's "voice" is spot on. The five minutes it takes to read this will be well spent. —GaryOak
When Canterlot pays the price for one of Twilight Sparkle's greatest mistakes, hundreds of refugees from the ruined city are stranded in Ponyville. Can the princesses maintain order in the overcrowded town, or will the combination of clashing cultures, Discord's antics, outrageously bad luck, and the machinations of a criminal mastermind send it spiraling into chaos?
Will I like this? If you are looking for some dry, sarcastic humor, you'll like this story. The author continually slides in sentences that bring a smirk to your face, and your grin doesn't leave until you stop reading. —NightWolf289
DARK
Mystery. Love. Magic. Murder. Truth. These are all important elements in the murder mystery Fluttershy has written, and is now asking Twilight to read. But the novel stars 'Twilight Sparkle', and she wrestles with the metafictional dissonance involved in reading a novel about herself and her friends. Twilight must do her best to solve the mystery, reconcile her own feelings about this ordeal, and figure out just what Fluttershy is trying to say by writing all this in the first place as the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur.
Will I like this? An intriguing mystery coupled with an interesting look at author versus reader perception. Although it's labeled a crossover, it should be accessible to any fans of cerebral fare. —Headless
Rarity's gotten herself in a rut, and to get out of it, she needs to design something so unique, so unmistakable that nopony could ever miss it. Her friends deserve that much. But nothing's free, of course.
Will I like this? A touching tale of selflessness and generosity going too far, Only Skin Deep believably depicts the extreme and obsessive self-sacrifice of somepony trying to do too much for her friends. The ending is somewhat predictable, but the journey to it makes this well worth the read. —GaryOak
Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land…
Will I like this? An epic retelling of the last battle before Nightmare Moon's banishment, The Sundering gives glorious detail to a cornerstone of Equestrian history. The event is rarely discussed with proper gravitas, but the author has paid it the respect it deserves. —Lab
i really, really liked that rarity story. it is very good an unnerving.
i saw that she was doing something to herself to hurt herself...... yet at the same time i had not freaking clue that she was slicing off her cutie marks. especially when she was likely treating the flesh to use in the clothing.
Pretty sure the apocalypse is more likely to happen than me finishing my read it later list.and the fine folks at the Royal Guard are partially to blame. Mwah mwah love ya guys.
Well there's four or five more for my read later list.
Wise man once said, never pay full price for a late pizza.
Glad to see The Heart of an Author get some attention! It's one of my favorites on this site at the moment.
dammit, there goes MORE of my time.
...after I finish Skin Game. Dresden > ponies
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Good stories once again, but the Rainbow Dash one has to be my favorite of this batch.
Wise man said that evil needs to be dealt with. Not destroyed or forgotten - DEALT with. Before you can deal with evil, you must know what evil is. That's what the wise man truly never explained. Also, why she was called a wise man when she wasn't a man, human or otherwise.
Hey, I submitted a story around the time of the last spotlight post and I never heard back yea or nay about it. Is there a Comedy called "The Good Ship Lifestyle" in the queue to be read somewhere? Who can I ask about that?
...It's also entirely possible that I actually didn't submit this story, and that you can put down to me not getting the appropriate amount of sleep.
2261834
If someone hasn't gotten back to you before I get online, I'll check for you.
Note: It is advisable to send a PM to an active prereader. We can get back to you more quickly and reliably that way.
Darn you guys.
You just added more to my already long list of stories I needa read……
Thanks!
2259396 check out "Dresden Fillies" while your reading, Jim Butcher himself actually recognises it (you can find a few not-so-subtle hints in Skin Game.)
I don't know where to ask this, but is DaemoN67 ever going to get a (deceased) instead of (banned)? it's been almost a year since his suicide, and people are still commenting on his page. All I want is some indication he's dead, alright?
2274126 Oh, I already read that
And yeah, his little girl seems to like ponies, hehe. Of course, she IS Target Audience Age