Fic Spotlight » Fic Spotlight #12 · 9:23pm Sep 26th, 2014
Hi guys. Remember the good old days, before the ficpocalypse? Back when we didn't have to scrounge in the charred ruins of empire to find our daily horse words? Back before the fic-raiders rode in on their fic-cycles to steal our fics? O, for those halcyon days. We never realized how good we had it in those times, and were I to have known that our abundance would not last, I would've cherished it more greatly.
Oh, wait, it's still only 2014. Never mind, guys. Carry on. Enjoy these incredibly abundant horse-words, as provided to you by The Royal Guard.
Final note. 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:
Slice of Life
A Brush with Beauty, by Burraku_Pansa
Groundbreaking, by AugieDog
A Feather In Her Cap, by GaryOak
Comedy
Twilight Sparkle's Not-So-Secret Shipfic Folder, by GaryOak
Sad
He Kindly Stopped For Me, by Pascoite
Scars, by Grand_Moff_Pony
Alicorn Cider, by Bad Horse
Daring Do and the Hollow House, by DemonBrightSpirit
Every Mare Needs Her Stallion, by InquisitorM
SLICE OF LIFE
Paul Matthews is a young man of average height and average weight and fairly average disposition. He is normal, and abnormally so. That rarely seen kind of person who, even in their early years, gives off the impression that they are destined for a moderately successful career in middle management at some cold, gray corporation.
Paul Matthews is about to come very close to something that few people do.
Will I like this? This story paints a compelling, intimate portrait of how an ordinary (and highly relatable) person's life might be changed by a glimpse into Equestria. It's further enriched by layers of meaning that begin to reveal themselves as you dig beneath the surface, which makes it worth revisiting after you finish it the first time. —Prak
A week after moving into her new castle, Twilight's still sighing. But when she sees Applejack and Granny Smith at the site of the former library tree, she learns that there's still some magic in Equestria she's unfamiliar with. It's an earth pony town, after all, and tall oaks from little acorns grow.
Will I like this? AugieDog does a wonderful job of showing us a snapshot of true Earth Pony "magic" with this short story. He deilvers a plausible expansion of otherwise unexplored canon to us in this sweet little piece. —GaryOak
By Scootaloo's age, Rainbow Dash had won countless competitions. As Ponyville's Annual Bounceball Competition approaches, Scootaloo dreams of following in her hoofsteps. Equipped with unquenchable determination and drive, she knows nothing will stop her... except, perhaps, herself.
Will I like this? This is a rather charming story set directly in canon. GaryOak has made a completely believeable story that shows just how far Scootaloo might go to impress her idol. —NightWolf289
COMEDY
Twilight Sparkle has been keeping Spike up at night with obsessive writing. One night, Spike's curiosity gets the best of him, and he discovers Twilight has been writing bad shipfiction about herself and her friends.
He decides to teach her a lesson she'll never forget.
Will I like this? A sobering moral lesson on the importance of respecting your peers—oh, who am I kidding? This thing is ridiculousness from start to finish, with all the subtlety of a superball in a moonbounce. Enjoy! —R5h
SAD
An accident leaves Scootaloo fighting for her life, and while everypony tries to offer what help or comfort they can, a few may just learn something new: exactly what it means to be a sister.
Will I like this? This story uses the answers to interesting questions to weave together an excellent story: What really happens when a pony slips between the realms of the living and the dead? What would be done to bring her back? And what if Death could not only be spoken with, but reasoned with? —NightWolf289
In the wake of a massive storm, time and patience will heal the physical damage to Ponyville and its residents. But how do you treat an injury that you can't see?
Will I like this? Perhaps healing is to grow a thicker skin over a wound. These scars, however, can pull taut. Strain builds, not only of the body but of the mind. Disregarding the issue—easy choice—invites only disaster, which "Scars" demonstrates masterfully. —q97randomguy
Big Mac is a farmer, always has been a farmer, and always will be a farmer...
...
...right?
Will I like this? With an incredibly close third-person narration, Bad Horse brings his characters to life. In a short span, I came to better know Big Mac and his secret fears. This story is a perfect example of cognitive dissonance's effects. —q97randomguy
Daring Do has faced countless villains and triumphed in the face of insurmountable odds, but there is one foe she can never hope to thwart: Herself. Her legacy may be epic, her adventures the stuff of legend, and her books the best-selling in all of Equestria, but she still goes home to nothing more than a hollow house.
Will I like this? It is difficult to capture a worthwhile moment told almost entirely in flashback, but DemonBrightSpirit achieves this quite effectively. Instead of being taken through a character's difficult life decision, we are shown its results and after effects. —GaryOak
After Fluttershy threw a tantrum in Ponyville's marketplace, Rarity invited her over for some good old girly gossip. The Fluttershy that turns up on her doorstep, however, is absolutely not the one she was expecting. Somefilly has a secret and Rarity isn't above using a few tricks to find out what it is.
Will I like this? I swear, there is stuff going on in this story that is beyond my level of comprehension. Not to mention that calling the characterization merely show-accurate is doing it a disservice—it somehow seems to reach into a tier of super-canonical character clarity. So yes, you will enjoy this. —R5h
DARK
Her oldest friend tries to save her, but they both discover it's too late.
Will I like this? Celestia's friendship with that one person most of us never want to meet provides an interesting emotional core for this story. If you're like me, Old Friends, Again will stick in your mind for a good long while. —R5h
And now you've made me think of the fandom's mortality, for all things must pass, even ponies. Our days are numbered, our horsewords finite. Even now, death's chill creeps into the equine breast, threatening to snuff out the magic of friendship once and for all...
Well, it'll happen eventually. Best to enjoy it while it lasts!
2486346 Aye, nothing lasts forever. But we've got a ways to go before our curtain falls. We've got enough productivity to last us a good few years.
Besides... the magic of friendship never really dies.
Interesting looking stories BTW. Might read one.
These are all fantastic stories, all of which I have had the pleasure of reading - but I am particularly glad that DemonBrightSpirit's Daring Do and the Hollow House has been selected for this round. I have always thought him an extremely talented author, and this recognition is long past due. Hopefully it will introduce people to some of his other work as well - it is well worth reading.
Shameless promotion of a brilliant author aside, this is a particularly good selection this time around.
Well, at least for the next few hours, I'm on top of the world!
A very good round of picks this time as well! I've got a lot of new things to read.
2486564
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Pretty sick batch of stories this time, if I do say so myself.
2486384 Friendship eh? Solaire's doing?
2486346 If the Star Wars/Trek, Mother, and Harry Potter fandoms can last as long as they have, I see no reason why ponies can't as well.
2486346
There are other older fandom that had lasted until today, what made you think this will be different?
It won't.
Pretty good list today. Some I've read, and others I plan to get to soon.
These are undoubtedly great stories... but I have one question... why do you have to pick stories from the Royal Guard? Isn't it somewhat selective and not to mention seriously exclusive advertising to pick stories from that one group? Admittedly it's a good narrowing down procedure, but to promote several stories site wide and yet to only choose them after they've been filtered by another group... that's hardly a partial judgement given your selection choice was already pre-determined on the Royal Guard's guidelines.
Man, I know of all of the authors of these stories. It's almost becoming a norm.
2488142 I think you may have missed how this works. This 'fic spotlight' exists solely for The Royal Guard to showcase stories. They put in a huge amount of effort assessing the stories submitted to them for quality; Obselescence doesn't choose any of them.
2488275 Okay, that's understandable (I just missed it because it was this tiny sentence in the blog post and it wasn't that specific). Still isn't it a little unfair that the Royal Guard gets this much privilege in the fact their recommendations are showcased on site blog posts? I"m not saying these stories don't deserve more attention, the Royal Guard does choose good stories after all, but I'm just a little on the fence about whether its fair to every other fic recommendation group fimfiction.
2488342 You call it a privilege, but The Royal Guard exists for this purpose and no other. They don't 'choose' stories at all. People submit stories to be vetted and the pre-readers go to great lengths to quality check them all. The stories you see above represent all the stories that have passed that benchmark since the last post, and I happen to know that their pre-readers are absolutely flat-out trying to get enough stories ready for posting.
I can tell you from experience that getting a story up on EqD is a doddle compare to getting it up here. This post was over a week late because they simply didn't have enough stories to make it worthwhile. If The Royal Guard didn't put in the effort they do, this post wouldn't exist at all, so no, it's not unfair in the slightest. It's not a privilege; it's a service.
2488439 I suppose you're right... though frankly, choosing is part of the entrance procedure. If it doesn't meet their standards, they choose not to let it in. That being said, there's nothing unfair about the stories posted or the Royal Guard's submission process. I mean I know they do a great job and are performing a service. I just was wondering why of all the fic recommendation groups they got site blog posts. But given the effort they go through to ensure fic quality... why shouldn't they be granted site blog post permissions.
Ah well, thank you for enlightening me on this topic.
2488464 You make it sound as though TRG is the only group in this general vein that gets site posts. Seattle's Angels and the Royal Canterlot Library have the same privilege.
2488464
Because quite a few members of The Royal Guard are recognized community members and the group has a decent screening process for proof readers. It's not like the reviewers for the Royal Guard are just some schmucks.
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And we have to ace the equivalent of two university-level English final exams in order to get in.
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Fair enough. I got nothing but respect for you guys and the pre-readers who put their time in to go through all those stories. I was just wondering.
I just wanted to weigh in, but this a great feature for the site. I'm always excited to see these post in my alert box 'casue it means there's something good and new to read... even when it occasionally ends up being something I've read before.
2489308
Yeah, you know. Decent, I suppose.
2489308 LOL. That's a little extreme, isn't it?
2489972
At least they're open book and have no time limit.
Gotta make sure we're qualified!
You know, if you fail to get into this little promotion for your story on your fist try, it really says something.
2507070
Huh? What do you mean by that?
2507761 Well, to me, when I sent in a different story of mine, just thought they'd accept any willy nilly fic that came their way. Turns out that they judge you based on grammar, spelling, how words are used in sentences, if the sentences are fragments, stuff like that.
Before I sent a different fic in this time, I edited it to the best of my ability and then submitted it.
They point out mistakes you probably didn't even know about, and that helps you get better at writing. Even being an editor you can still have mistakes in your own story, and you might not been notice them.
Anyway, with the mistakes I didn't know about, it told me that I'm not the best editor, or story maker around, and that I should look even harder to find the mistake and not just write whatever I feel like writing.
2507813
Oh, I see what you mean. The way your post was worded made me think you were saying that we had low standards, and it said something highly negative about fics we reject.
And yes, you're quite right on what we look at when prereading stories. They need to substantively work as a story as well as be cleanly written. Having your work critically analyzed is incredibly helpful, and is one of the fastest ways to improve at the craft, assuming your critics offer a qualified, balanced, and objective opinion. A large portion of my knowledge comes from three years of this.