Fic recs, July 15th! · 11:53am Jul 15th, 2014
In about an hour, I will be sitting in a classroom all day. This is an online class, why do we have to be meatspace the first day? :( And why must it go all day? :((( Well, I made some time to post this journal to keep you all company while I'm away, at least. Also, I did a bunch of writing last week, so I rewarded myself by clearing my RITL a bit. How that’s a reward, I’m honestly not sure.
Oh shit, you guys, we got writeoff sign!
RealmOfMereShadows rewrote Last Speech Before the Terminus, which I reviewed back in April and gave a rating of Recommended to. However, though I’ll heartily agree that expanding the story surrounding the speech was a good idea, and the speech itself is improved without losing any of the bits that made it great, it comes with a price in the form of some really poorly-phrased sentences. Also, this story doesn’t make any sense, and I never noticed it before. Sombra starts off saying he’s writing the words down, but then he leaves his study and goes out to the balcony to deliver the speech before leading his ponies into battle as the black mist thing. There’s no way that could happen, in either version of the story. So unfortunately, I’m going to have to downgrade this story’s rating to Vaguely Recommended. :/ That’s why I mark all the audiobooks I read, by the way: not just so you can go listen to them yourselves, but because hearing a story is a much different experience than reading it
H: 0 R: 2 C: 3 V: 1 N: 0
Dash’s Diary: Pinkie’s a Stallion! by TAW
Mature: Sex
Genre: R63
First things first: this is part of a series of stories where, if I’m not mistaken, the mane cast are all dating each other, like, openly, continually switching off. So despite the very obvious goal, this starts off with Rainbow in Rarity’s bed; it does at least do a bit of explaining behind how everything works, so it’s not hard to keep up with. Actually, what I find harder to accept is that Dash would write a diary this coherent. If you ignore that bit and just parse it as first-person Rainbow Dash, it works a lot better. Admittedly, this is funny, and R63 stuff is always enjoyable (especially when it’s PinkieDash; you hardly ever see Pinkie as the stallion), but once they get down to business, I was less than enthused. There’s something off about their interaction, and the overall effect is pretty rapey. Like, rape fantasy, maybe, but still uncomfortable. (It gets worse when they talk about it later.) It might have something to do with Rainbow’s portrayal vs. how I understand her character, shades of At Home on the Range, though I can totally buy her needing a stallion. Still, I found this less than satisfying, which was disappointing.
Vaguely Recommended
Breaking News and Weather by Pineta
Genre: Newspaper
You know what this really has going for it? Effort. The author is also a digital editor, splicing together eight full pages of legit-looking newspapers (you may have to open them in a separate tab to see them properly) in order to tell the story of Rainbow Dash’s Sonic Rainboom and its effects across Equestria. Some of the timelines I felt didn’t quite line up (Suri Polomare doesn’t seem that much older than Rarity), but I suppose it all comes down to author interpretation of the show. Really though, while not being the most riveting story, this is a very original concept that accomplishes what it sets out to with some very impressive visuals.
Recommended
Her Weight in Affection by Stonershy
Genre: Fetish Porn
After her defeat, Chrysalis is banished to Earth, where, as the opening of this piece tells us, she adapts and learns to fit in as a human, eventually taking up a management position in an office and all the while surviving on the barest of love. She eventually discovers the cartoon show that chronicles her own defeat, and that’s when things get weird. She figures out a way to pull in love from the internet, and quickly starts gaining weight. Now, this is well-written, and it honestly is funny watching her deal with the side-effects of making up for lost love, as it were. But once you realize just how many words are devoted to her examining her curves, and the particular ways in which her form is detailed — despite the fact that she’s repulsed by it herself — well, you can’t ignore the fact that this is feeding-, weight-gain- and fat-fetish material. There are plenty of scenes constructed for her to jiggle, or be wet and glistening, and so forth (there’s also a really good transformation scene toward the end, so, bonus?) I, at least, was prepared for this, and now I am preparing you. If nothing else, this is a look at how easy it is for someone to “let themselves go”, as it were. There’s also a good bit of fandom commentary, though some of it feels rose-colored. If anything, the ending feels a bit rushed. I think, judging by the author’s note in the description, the author was attempting to stay under a certain word limit, so the finale wraps up pretty quickly, and with the same telling technique as the opening. Still, it’s not a bad story, considering, and works in a bit of redemption for Chrysalis by the end.
Recommended If You Don’t Mind — or Like — the Fetish Aspect
Taste the Rainbow by Lynked
Genre: Comedy
Twilight does an experiment to drain Rainbow Dash’s mane of its color, it works, Pinkie ends up drinking some and passing it around to everypony else. A premise that wacky makes for a decently funny story. That said, “decent” is really the only word I can think of to describe this. The writing is acceptable, there are a few typos, some of the tangents are a bit “wha?” (as is the reason for why Twilight is doing this experiment in the first place), but it’s enjoyable and accomplishes what it sets out to. That said, Pinkie’s fairly willful lampshading of what she’s doing might stretch credibility of characterization a bit, but post season 4, I can kind of accept it.
Recommended As Light Reading
Rainbow Dash and the Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny by Blueshift
Reading by Stephen Caroe
Genre: Crossover of Crossovers
It’s a Blueshift story about Rainbow Dash getting caught in the crossfire of pretty much every toy-based 80’s cartoon ever aired and more. That should tell you everything you need to know. God, it even includes Rock Lords. New characters are introduced nonstop and I squealed at every one. This story makes possibly the best use of a real person ever. This is madcap zaniness at its finest, and I’m sorry for you if you don’t like it.
Recommended
Dash Gets an Extra Hour in the Ball Pit by Sparkler
Genre: Bandwagon Jumping
If you are not a frequenter of Tumblr, it’s possible you are missing out on one of the most charmed moments of our modern existence. (Though both Horse News and EQD — sorta — have reported on it.) Anyway, it was inevitable someone write a fic about Dashcon, and… it’s about as bad as you’d expect something written to capitalize on a single moment in internet history to be. It obviously hasn’t been proofread, for starters. That said, WonderZone sounds like a fucking awesome place, if you’re like five. Filly Rainbow Dash is admittedly characterized well (she’s a little shit, natch), and I enjoy this for what it is. Surprisingly, that turns out to be just a cute slice of life foal fic, with all the memeage relegated to the title and description. Like, honestly, the story has nothing to do with Dashcon other than being inspired by the joke.
Recommended If You Like Foal Fics
LOL, you read a bandwagon fic?
Wait, there are FICS about that bandwagon?
2287299
There is at least one. :B I wouldn't have read it were I not on the bandwagon myself.
2287300
Gotta say, it has spawned some of the greatest pictures ever.
fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/196/5/7/rock_pit_by_zelc_face-d7qqvom.png
That Blueshift fic sounds familiar, does it end in a police station?
2287302 Oh man, that's hilarious.
Glad to see there's another short story contest here. Already submitted my four prompt ideas. For the microfic contest, normally I'm great with those, but I couldn't think of anything for that one and was pretty busy that weekend. Wait. I'm going to sequoia national park this weekend. Shit. Well, I can write on the road and upload when I get back I guess.
Also yes, even though I'm a frequent tumblr user, I had no idea dashcon (why is it even called that?) was a thing until pictures of ball pits and jump houses started trickling into my social media.
Yeah, I remember reading the Stonershy story about a year ago. You can probably guess why. Never thought you'd actually get around to it or like it.
2287327
Yes, it does.
2287566
Stoner's a bro. :B
2287673
Yes he is. Hopefully I get to meet him at Bronycon again.
Oh man, I remember RD and the Ultimate Showdown. Still one of the most downright wacky-good-time fics I've ever read. Anyone who can read that without at least smiling should really check to make sure they're actually human.
Oh! How did I miss this? Hahaha
While fatty stuff is my fetish and all that, I tried to both keep it pretty low key and use it as a device to convey how social media can have negative impacts on someone if they rely on it as their sole means of interaction, and more importantly, that social media is not a replacement for real life, face to face companionship.
I did not write it to be a fetish piece so much as I attempted to use my fetish as an instrument to convey social commentary. This was two years ago, though, so whether or not that commentary has aged well is debatable.
2287677
Your wish came true~
2545895
Well, I've never seen anyone use it to their advantage better than this. Usually the fetish serves either as the entire point or just distracts from the main story, to the point where I'd be tempted to just pack it away completely.