Fic recs, July 25th · 6:33pm Jul 25th, 2014
I’ve reached 500 followers! :D Thank you, everyone who’s stuck around! Assuming Mister 500 gets back to me with a story, I’ll have something rather special to commemorate it in time.
H: 2 R: 1 C: 2 V: 0 N: 0
The Conversion Bureau: The Big Respawn by Chatoyance
Reading by Pwezem
Love this guy’s voice. He’s Scottish. He even says “didnae”! :D Decent quality, good reading style, though this is the first time I’ve ever laughed at the music in a reading being ridiculous. I wonder if he has his own channel.
Genre: Conversion Bureau
Cynical serial jerk Dylan deals with his roommate Liam converting into a pony, and all the changes that come with it. Not being an expert on TCB fics, I was a little surprised by the way this set up the “shield”, the outer wall of Equestria expanding into Earth. It’s described as impenetrable by anything human, to the point of pushing bones out of graves, which is a heck of an image. Unfortunately, this also deals heavily in something that irritates me about both TCB and FiO: mind rewriting. Dylan gets slowly more and more frustrated with Liam, because he’s too nice, nothing like the guy he used to play violent video games with. Why is it too much to ask of authors to let miserable humans become miserable ponies? (Or, y’know, discover that Equestria really is a nicer place on their own, and find happiness that way? Not that it would apply in this case, since they both stay on Earth.) It’s not like ponies are automatically better people. Even in season one, we had Trixie and Blueblood to discount that notion handily. Still, subject matter aside, this is a decent foray into the TCB universe, and I especially loved the scene where Dylan takes in the sight of the newly-converted Liam for the first time.
Recommended If You Like TCB, In Which Case You’ve Likely Already Read It
Big Brother by obabscribbler
Reading (part 1) by Doctor Cobra
Genre: Slice of Life
Interestingly, Reading Rainboom also did part one of this story (but not part two), so I started getting deja vu by the end of it. This story is how you do slice of life, a genre that I find notoriously difficult to enjoy. It’s got good writing, yes, but beyond that we see the Apple family moving through time, through Big Macintosh’s eyes. From the time when Applejack was away in Manehattan to her foalhood, to becoming friends with Rainbow Dash and the family reunion in season 3, Mac tries to do right by her and Apple Bloom, while shouldering the burdens his father left behind. (There’s also some background AppleDash, which doesn’t hurt.) One thing that surprised me is that Big Mac is portrayed as a non-academic on account of his slow thinking, yet this is not shown to be a bad thing. He doesn’t care what others think of him, he reads while moving his lips, and the world goes on. Having it not be a detriment helps elevate this beyond a lot of similar portrayals of both him and Applejack. Also, the subject of their parents comes up, and we get a lengthy story about how they met and what they were like. Again, the subject is handled differently from the standard Apple Family story, and this comes out ahead for doing so. The only thing I can really criticize is some distracting POV shifts at the start of part two. Other than that, this is beyond reproach, and definitely one of the better fics that’s ultimately about family.
Recommended
And That’s Why Applejack Doesn’t Have a McDonald’s Toy by Justice4243
Reading by Scribbler, et. al.
Genre: Fucking Glorious
Actual genre tag: Random Comedy/EiH/Meta/Fandom Commentary. This is the kind of random fic I tend to write a lot of, except it’s way better than everything I’ve ever done. There's barely a word that's unfunny. It even managed to make things I hate, like the Futurama reference and Pinkie’s gratuitous fourth-wall breaking, enjoyable. And you know what? I’m tired of insisting that comedies need to keep everyone in character. This has overtones of Friendship Is Witchcraft, playing up comedic aspects of certain characters’ personalities (Spike is the best example), while inventing other personalities whole-cloth (Twilight’s love of money). The rewriting of character works. It’s all hilarious. I goddamn love this story, and you can’t tell me otherwise!
Highly Recommended
Clouds by darkshadow051
Reading by TheLostNarrator, et. al.
Genre: Slice of Life
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, waiting for Apple Bloom to show up ahead of crusading, cloud-watch. The writing is perfectly serviceable, and the story is extremely cute. If you need anything else out of a story, you’ll have to find something else to read. I admittedly got a little bored in the middle, but, well, this is me we’re talking about.
Recommended If You Need Nothing Other Than ‘Cute’ in a Story
In Which Twilight Sparkle Attempts to Eat a Sandwich by Maphysto
Reading by DeftFunk and Illya Leonov
Genre: Folklore
Twilight’s lunch is continually interrupted as her friends try to warn her about the cursed sandwiches of Oatfield Cafe. In some ways, this story is very predictable: her friends stop by in ones and twos and tell different stories that Twilight reacts to with eye-rolling and pronouncements of disbelief. In the end, it turns out that none of the stories were completely true, but they were all conveniently interconnected. But each story is very clever in the ways it's tied to its teller. Rarity’s, for instance, involves forbidden love, while Applejack’s deals with an unfulfilled artisan, and Fluttershy’s, a chicken. Rainbow Dash’s gave me the most pause, given that it’s about a food critic, but it does have a fairly dramatic ending. And while I had similar misgivings about Pinkie’s, I can see her getting excited about a tale of murder that comes wrapped around a ghost story. I can also see this entire thing being an episode. It would have to be cut down a little, yes, but few fics I’ve ever read have captured the show’s spirit so well. Furthermore, it’s an exploration of the power of folklore I’ve not seen done as well since Gobbling and Other Traditional Pursuits, only this is wrapped in its own narrative and the aforementioned show-tone. This is an excellent, funny piece, and definitely worth the read.
Highly Recommended
I remember reading Sandwich, and I thankee for reminding me of it--it was indeed a darn fine fic.
Yeah, Sandwich was a fun story. I helped the author with it and got him to do a much better ending than the original.
Wow, you didn't have a single vaguely recommended or not recommended fic in this post. That's a rarity.
2315353
Where's the real PP? What have you done with him??
Wow, so that how the Chat TCB-verse field works? I'm only familiar with the Cloudyverse fics, and it's fairly different there (instead of an impenetrable barrier, the problem there is that the two worlds have merged and the expanding magic field kills all higher mammals [yes this includes dolphins, and yes that means sea ponies]).
Since it comes so highly recommended, I'll give that Random fic a try.
2315358
He's forever lost! He may not return!
Congrats on the 500 followers! I'll read Sandwich later, I guess, and might take a look at the others. Well, except for the Chatoyance one. I don't really like the attitude or the message that person's fics -- or TCB fics in general -- send, to be honest. I could get into the premise if it was well played, but the little I've seen about it is kind of disturbing, so yeah.
(Also, he tagged his own story as "astonishing" and "unique" in EQD, which I find just silly).
The McDonalds one could be fun, I guess? I might take a peek, tho I dislike purely random stories. Hmmm...
Chatoyance believes that ponies are better people than humans.
*looks around*
Who me?
I love how DeftFunk managed to mix his sillier tone with Illya's in the reading. Added a lot to an already very good story.
2315371 As someone that dislikes purely random stories, I'd also recommend Why Applejack.... It is awesome character destruction, and manages to be random while still working on its own bizarre, internal logic. Plus, the reading is great.
2315353
No, this is a Rarity: mlpforums.com/uploads/monthly_04_2014/post-25449-0-20753400-1396520875.png
2315359
Does the universe work differently depending on who's writing it? O.o I literally have no idea. I think midnight shadow does imepentrable + magical radiation or something.
2315408
It really doesn't make sense to me that changing someone's form will change their nature as well. One could make a case for the transformation changing how they see themselves, and thus how they act (kind of how some people starting changing their behavior after watching the show; there's fandom commentary fodder in here!), but that sort of thing takes time and self-awareness, and definitely shouldn't be handled off-screen.
2315670
Yeah, that's one of the best collab readings I've ever heard, and not just because of who's taking part in it. It really helped drive home the very different styles of the story's two halves (and I forgot to mention in my review, but I love the overblown themes that set up each folk story; Illya's reading is perfect for that kind of thing!)
2316293
Yes, it is vividly different. In fact, Conversion Bureau has like a half-dozen SUB-universes.
2316297
Huh. :B I probably won't put that much thought in when I do it.
2316302
Really, it's mostly because people were pissed off at the original version's portrayal of ponies.
And then other people thought it didn't go far enough.
And then some other people responded to that version...
~
For reference, Chat is one of those who feel it doesn't go far enough. She feels that ponies are vividly superior to humanity in every way, shape, and form.
2316297 What Ether said, and that is why I'm not likely to start in on any TCB fics other than Cloudhammer's. He doesn't do the whole "personality death/overwriting" thing in his, and I'm not really interested in reading any others and finding out that they do a few stories in.
Well, that and it's not like I need to go looking for more fics to read, I'm still just barely under 200 unread chapters on my favorites list after working my way through most of the Dangerous Game fics I tagged for later.
Black magic! Lines crossing out whole lines of text before my very eyes! Read now, before the entire post is lost.
2316312
And there's... a problem with that? I'm of the opinion that we don't go far enough in understanding medicinal research in certain cases because of religion, and I've stated that openly (especially having had to watch a friend die from Cystic Fibrosis), but that doesn't make me an ASSHOLE. Yet I see Chat, someone I consider a very dear friend, be utterly vilified for her similar viewpoint. So what makes you any better?
2316496
Wait, that's an elaborate way to justify your misanthropy? I had to read that twice.
Honestly, if ponies had religion, they'd probably be in the same boat.
What I'M saying is that ponies are not inherently better people than humans, that's just stupid.
2316496
Today's tradition is tomorrow's hate crime.
Tomorrow's human right is today's moral outrage.
Evolution (biological, environmental, social, technolical) is a process.
The reason I dislike TCB is because it entirely bases its morality on the present, disregarding the process.
The idea of having our evolution forcibly aborted for the sake of an (admittedly pleasant) eternal stagnation, enforced with absolute totalitarianism with refusal meaning certain death, is horrifying on a species level.
Endorsing it as preferrable based solely on a snapshot of the transient present and a misanthropic belief that things will only get worse, disregards the process we are a part of.
At its core, TCB is a love letter to the murder-suicide of the entire human race- no the entirity of life and evolution on Earth.
You can be into that if you want but you really can't blame non-like-minded people for reviling it.
Hey I happened to read/listen to a lot of these. How cool!
That McDonalds business may have worked for you, but it didn't for me. Eh, just not what I look for in a random comedy I suppose. But I can agree that it took things in a good direction with the characters.
Clouds also did nothing for me. Maybe I'm just immune to cute.
I have to disagree a bit here because I was pretty bothered by the narration. I really didn't need to have every single head turn, eye squint, and hoof point described to me. Hearing it in audio format made that worse. A lot of that could've simply been inferred though the dialogue.
Dude, I know!
I could've collaborated with anyone really, what with me just needing another narrator. But I was like, No, I need Illya. Anyone else is unacceptable!
Ah, Chatoyance.
First I made contact in the comments of Trixie's Magic Bit, which should have been the first clue.
Then I realized that she's one of the most significant TCB authors, which should have been a red flag.
Then I learned her... their... history.
2319248
Hey, don't be a dick. :/