R4 (Reactions, Reviews, Reference, Redirection) #0014

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Here are five slightly edited old reviews:
Playing Along by Lt_Luc (?)
Interference by Vimbert the Unimpressive
The Dragon And The Photograph by Scramblers and Shadows
Duel Nature by Eakin
Whisper Sun, Silent Moon by RedSquirrel456

Playing Along by Lt_Luc (?)
(story link) (my original review)

Sweet story. Another perfectly believable story about Twilight Sparkle as a young foal. A bit sad in places as it explores the idea of childhood ending, but with a happy ending. The idea that being an adult and belief in some things don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

Interference by Vimbert the Unimpressive
(story link) (my original review)

This would make a pretty good episode. Reuses the whole ‘Twilight blows things out of proporition’ and ‘Spike makes poor decisions when presented with gemstones’ and ‘Princess Celestia misses old friends’ themes, which might be closer to tropes at this point. Is a fun read even if the story doesn’t really add anything new or explore any depth.

The Dragon and the Photograph by Scramblers and Shadows
(story link) (my original review)

This story is a look at Spike. A character study of sort, mostly a look at what dragons might be like and how Spike will handle his non-pony heritage as he grows up. I like the dragons in Long Distance more, but there are a few really cool ideas here. This story will be adding a few details to my headcanon dragons.

Duel Nature by Eakin
(story link) (my original review)

By the same author as Hard Reset and that whole time loop trilogy. Which I just re-read yesterday relative to writing this and it is still quite good. Anyway, in a lot of ways this story is a lot more action/adventure than the show, but the characters all felt perfectly in-tune with it. The Twilight Sparkle presented here is a believable alternate, simply showing what she would be like in a universe with a bit more realism and violence. Princess Luna likewise was well characterized. Plenty of worldbuilding/history I quite liked. Luna lecturing a archeology professor about ancient history was a fun bit, as well as the comment from Luna that her sister wasn’t very good at languages since she only knew a dozen or so.The ending was a little less MLP and even more witty action movie, but only by degrees. It would be wonderful to see this story as a made-for-tv movie of the show, like what many anime series do. I’m picturing Nanoha movie quality for the no-holds-barred dramatic fight scene between Twilight Sparkle and Princess Luna. Which is actually one of the better magical fight scenes I’ve seen in a story.

Whisper Sun, Silent Moon by RedSquirrel456
(story link) (my original review)

Very good worldbuilding in this one. A story set far, far before the show about Celestia and Luna coming to terms with their newly earned immortal divinity. Set right before their struggle with Discord. Good stuff about eternity, power, and family in this one. Some of it is bittersweet or outright sad given the thousand year exile of Luna that we know is going to happen in the future. Nothing specific that I will be adding to my personal headcanon from this one, but the general characterizations and tone is adding another layer to how I already picture the alicorn sisters.

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