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Titanium Dragon


TD writes and reviews pony fanfiction, and has a serious RariJack addiction. Send help and/or ponies.

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Nov
24th
2014

Read It Later Reviews #1 - A Confederacy of Dunce Caps, Going Anywhere, On the Importance of Spelling, Awaken, Scootaloo, and Fugue State · 6:00am Nov 24th, 2014

A common symptom of being on FIMFiction for a while is an ever-growing read later list, composed of a bunch of stories which looked interesting enough to mark “read later”, but which you were too lazy to read at that point in time, either because it wasn’t really that interesting, because you were pressed for time, or because it was simply fairly long and would require some actual commitment.

My Read It Later list is up to 1517 stories at the time of writing.

When bookshelves were implemented, I had the brilliant idea of creating a “Read Later – Recommended” list, which was my “really actually read it later” list.

It is now at 120 stories. Clearly, this didn’t work.

So, in a bid to actually make this work, I’m going to try and start knocking off stories which are sitting on that list.

The five stories I read today:

A Confederacy of Dunce Caps by Estee
Going Anywhere by Eakin
On the Importance of Spelling by Softy8088
Awaken, Scootaloo by xjuggernautx
Fugue State by Horizon


A Confederacy of Dunce Caps
By Estee

Slice of Life

Diamond Tiara knows all about work delegation: if you want something done, have other ponies do it for you. In the name of that goal, Silver Spoon studies for both and Diamond copies her friend's efforts. It works every time. Except that Cheerilee just forced Diamond to switch desks. And with finals a week away and no personal knowledge for most of the subjects, the only ponies she can now hope to copy from are Snips and Snails. Something which may get her sent all the way back to preschool. And there's no way Diamond is going to lower herself to doing her own work.
Which means the colts are going to be learning on her behalf.
No matter what she has to do to make that happen.
It's for the best cause ever, after all.

Why I added it: Estee is a good writer and the premise amused me.

Review

The focus character of this piece is Diamond Tiara. In this story, she’s a complete brat who tries to avoid having to do any work by forcing everyone else to do it for her – mostly, in this case, Silver Spoon. Apparently, up to the start of the story, she had kept Filthy Rich ignorant of her behavior via various means, but that has recently failed as ponies start going past her directly to her father and stop listening to her threats. Filthy Rich himself is portrayed sympathetically and clearly feels bad about it, and is very much exhausted by having to deal with his petulant daughter. Diamond Tiara, to her credit, picks up on the fact that her usual tactics aren’t working… but of course, decides that the solution is merely to do what she was doing before, but, you know, better.

And having to use Snips and Snails as her minions, so she can copy off of them in class now that she’s been moved away from her usual “partner”, Silver Spoon.

The story does a reasonable job of characterizing Snips, Snails, and Diamond Tiara. Quotes, apparently from lectures from Filthy Rich in the past, show up periodically in the text and illustrate how Diamond Tiara needs to treat Snips and Snails to get them to help her out, but at the same time, Diamond Tiara clearly has missed the fundamental lesson that Filthy Rich was trying to teach her – empathy.

Unfortunately, the story isn’t finished yet. And indeed, despite being 16,000 words long, it barely even feels like it has started. Reading up to the point it is at wasn’t a chore, and it surprised me that I had already read 16,000 words when I got through to the end of it. This speaks well for the story in one sense, but poorly in another – while it wasn’t a problem to read through what was already there, the story managed to spend 16,000 words without going much further than the basic setup, namely Diamond Tiara tutoring Snips and Snails. Indeed, technically speaking, that hasn’t even started yet – she has only just gotten them to come to her house for tutoring.

Recommendation: I can’t really recommend this story right now. What is present isn’t bad, and it has an interesting setup, but it is nowhere near the finish line. As such, if you are interested in the premise, I’d recommend marking it and coming back to it later once it is finished.


Going Anywhere
By Eakin

Romance, Slice of Life

As a general rule, leaving your future bride at the altar and abandoning your entire family to flee the city of Canterlot is a bad idea.
Then again, you never know just who you'll meet on the train to your new life.

Why I added it: Eakin is a good writer and several people recommended that I read it, and it was included in this week’s version of The Last Roundup.

Review

The great thing about the summary is that it applies to both of the main characters if you change “bride” to “spouse”.

A tale of two OCs, this story really had nothing to do with ponies, or the show, or really much of anything. It could have easily been a human story, a work of original, non-pony fiction, and it wouldn’t have changed the story one whit.

This isn’t really a bad thing, mind.

Still, I was left feeling unsatisfied by the end of the story as the characters never figure out the setup and we’re just kind of left with them going off to their new homes in Baltimare with no real resolution beyond that – and the characters had already resolved to go there at the start of the story.

Recommendation: There isn’t any need to go out of your way in order to read this. The story is passable, but not exceptional; I’ve seen similar stories before, and while this is reasonably well-executed it isn’t anything you likely haven’t seen before.


On the Importance of Spelling
By Softy8088

Romance, Comedy

After a busy day celebrating princess Mi Amore Cadenza's birthday, Shining Armor and his wife take time to wind down, relax, and talk. The topic of their conversation soon moves in an unexpected direction, and the couple finds that their marriage still has surprises in store for them both.

Why I added it: This is a Pony Fiction Vault story, and is very highly rated. It was written by Softy8088, who has also written the excellent The Cost of Life and the solid And Borrowing Dulls the Edge of Husbandry, so reading his other highly rated story seemed like a safe bet.

Review

I was surprised by the relatively low quality of writing at the beginning of the story; we have bluntly telly lines like “His wife returned his loving look” and purple phrases like “The euphoric sound resonated in the stallion’s deep timbre, before descending into a slow, soft whooshing as the last of the air in his lungs escaped through pursed lips”. That being said, as the story goes on, it becomes much less noticeable, and, indeed, much less prevalent.

The story starts out with intimations of intimacy, but it was a bit obvious that it was going to be a bait and switch; still, such things are a bit amusing, even if, by this point, they’re a bit overdone. The rest of the story is a cute conversation between a married couple about the spelling of Princess Cadance’s name, and the history of the battle she had with her parents over how to spell it “correctly”.

However, that is really all it is: a cute conversation with some playful bickering between a married couple. The story doesn’t really go anywhere else, just tells an amusing little anecdote and lets us see more of Shining Armor and Cadance’s personalities, and the conclusions of the anecdote just kind of leads into another little joke, with no real “proper” climax, even if the ending did make me laugh out loud.

That being said, I really did like the personality that Shining Armor and Cadance showed in this story.

Recommendation: The story, while decent, isn’t amazing. If you’re looking to read a cute discussion and playful bickering between a married couple, this is a reasonable enough choice, but the story is rather ephemeral; you won’t walk away from the story feeling enriched for the experience of reading it, though it will probably make you smile.

I’m actually kind of surprised this is a Pony Fiction Vault story. It is a decent story and earned an upvote from me, but if this was entered into one of the monthly writeoff competitions, I wouldn’t necessarily expect it to win.


Awaken, Scootaloo
By xjuggernaughtx

Slice of Life

Dreams are such delicate things, and Scootaloo’s are more fragile than most.

But in Equestria, dreams are protected. Sometimes a filly just needs a helping hoof to learn how to hope again.

Why I added it: This is one of the highest rated stories on the site and was recommended by The Royal Guard.

Review

Luna speaks to Scootaloo in her dreams, carrying her out of a dark dream about a swamp which is trying to pull her down, both literally and metaphorically.

This is a story fundamentally about fears getting the better of someone, and Scootaloo feels left behind and like she is being drug down, and that she is always left behind, a disappointment, and unwanted. A Scootaorphan story, in this case she lives with her aunt who, apparently, doesn’t really want foals. While the story focuses a great deal on Rainbow Dash seeming to leave her behind, it seems that her own parents either abandoned her with her aunt or simply died, and that the abandonment issues go beyond Rainbow Dash, though it isn’t really fully explained.

Luna suggests that it is Scootaloo’s fear of others flying away, and thus, peripherally, her hatred of flying because it carries away those she loves, which is prevening her from flying, and suggests that in order to fly, one must love the skies.

Secretly, Scootaloo has been Peter Pan all the time.

The story ends very solidly, and it is heavily implied that Scootaloo will now be able to fly.

Though, personally, I find the idea of her crashing like she did in The Lotus Eaters a very amusing possibility. Possibly because I’m evil.

Recommendation: In some ways, this does what I would have hoped for out of For Whom The Sweetie Belle Toils, but I didn’t love this story – it was a decent enough read, but not something I would heartily recommend, and it feels almost generic in the “don’t give up, Scootaloo” category of stories.


Fuge State
By Horizon

Romance

Ponyville has a problem: Twilight’s friends all switched Cutie Marks, and the musical numbers are flying thick and fast.

Lyra has a problem: she can’t handle the way musical numbers get into your head and take you over.

Bon Bon has a problem with that.

Why I added it: This story was recommended by the Pony Fiction Vault and is very highly rated. It also was written by Horizon, who wrote the excellent The 18th Brewmare of Bluey Napoleon and The Lotus Eaters.

Review

This story has the rather ridiculous premise that Lyra objects to the mass hypnosis of songs, which are really totally fun, even if sometimes you sprain your ankles or choke on rocks in bad cider. Lyra hates the songs, and thinks they’re unsafe; Bon Bon enjoys the song, but Lyra is paranoid about “losing” Bon Bon, and as a result she forces Bon Bon to leave town with her during the events of Magical Mystery Cure.

In this mad vision of Equestria, musicals are a sort of innate magic, apparently something most common with unicorns, but even some earth ponies (like, say, Pinkie Pie) can start them up. Lyra finds them disturbing, even sickening, while Bon Bon loves them. Apparently they make you feel things, do things, and sweep you up in the moment, leaving your actions and life out of your control while they happen. It seems most ponies like them, but Lyra hates them – and Bon Bon, poor Bon Bon, has never had a musical of her own and thus feels like she is somehow lacking.

As such, there is a great deal of tension between the pair, as Bon Bon wants to stay in Ponyville and get swept up in the songs while Lyra fears them and wants to keep Bon Bon – and herself – safe and well away from them.

All in all, the story takes the songs at face value, draws some disturbing conclusions from them, and takes off running without looking back. You would think that this would be a comedy, but it actually isn’t; while it is funny in places, the absence of a comedy tag isn’t really a mistake, as it is primarily a romantic story about the two deciding what to do.

The only real flaw with the story is the fact that, in the end, we really don’t understand why the two feel compelled to be together – Lyra and Bon Bon love each other, but we never really quite understand why, which makes them getting back together at the end less sweet than it might have been, as while we may get swept up a little in them declaring their love for each other, we never really know why it is so compelling.

Recommendation: I didn’t think that this was a top-tier story, but it is certainly an interesting one, as it takes a very strange premise and has fun with it. Worth reading for the premise alone.


Summary

A Confederacy of Dunce Caps by Estee
Read it later. The story is incomplete; wait until it is done.

Going Anywhere by Eakin
Neutral but not recommended

On the Importance of Spelling by Softy8088
Upvoted, worth reading if you like playful bickering

Awaken, Scootaloo by xjuggernautx
Neutral but not recommended

Fugue State by Horizon
Worth reading for the premise alone

All in all, there wasn’t a bad story in the batch. The best of the lot of them was Fugue State, primarily because of the interesting take on the premise of magical songs and some pony really hating them; the rest were decent, but nothing that couldn't have been read later.

Number of stories still listed as "Read It Later - Recommended": 115

Number of stories still listed as “Read It Later”: 1518

Comments ( 21 )

Psst. Awaken, Scootaloo has the wrong cover art.

2613358
Good catch. Thank you. :heart:

On the importance of spelling was one of the first fics I ever read, and being new to the fandom at the time, I was completely unaware of there being more than one way to spell cadance. As such, being a stickler for spelling myself, I found the punchline hilarious.

Not even cussing or alcohol fueled rage. C'mon, smalls, you're killing me here.

2613400
Not my style, man. Not my style.

Plus I don't drink ethanol. Anything I use to clean my lab equipment probably isn't something I want to consume orally.

I loved Going Anywhere for being open-ended and leading up to a reveal that never happened - it's a refreshing twist on the usual trend of the unnecessary epilogue. YMMV, though. (also, the OCs are so cute together squee.)

Thanks for the read/recs! Glad it was upvote-worthy. Interesting point on the lack of establishment of their relationship; I was coming from the perspective of starting with them as an established canon couple, so never did go too deeply into what brought them together. I'd have to think about that one.

2613400
Clearly, the solution is to nudge stories onto his Read It Later - Recommended list that will drive him to existential despair.

I'll just note that My Harshwhinnial technically carries a Pony Fiction Vault recommendation. :trollestia:

2613517
Well, there's nothing really wrong with the story, per se, it just didn't really satisfy me. It was cute enough, and the characters were cute enough, but it didn't really go anywhere new. It was reasonably well executed for what it was, but it didn't impress me with anything in it.

I didn't downvote it, but it wasn't my favorite thing in the world.

Of course, I have high standards. I probably should have entitled this "TD Hates Everything", half-jokingly.

2613518
Well, they are an established couple in the sense that they, well, exist, and the fans decided that because they stand next to each other and bring each other saddlebags out and such that they must be lesbians (something of which I entirely approve), but we don't really know them as people. Or ponies, for that matter.

I mean, they're cute as heck but yeah.

Honestly I kind of hope they don't really ever establish them as characters, because they're kind of fun as the canon noncanon couple.

But I just never really got a sense from the story about why it was so important for them to be together, so I never really had any strong reason to root for them.

Clearly, the solution is to nudge stories onto his Read It Later - Recommended list that will drive him to existential despair.

You monster.

I'll just note that My Harshwhinnial technically carries a Pony Fiction Vault recommendation.

I haven't read it yet. Though I put off reading Bad Horse's red-and-black alicorn story for ages and THAT was hilarious...

2613519 Also, following. My read later list is too empty because of my high standards and/or reading obsession.

2613522
Well, RazedRainbow, who used to be a prereader for the side, described my voting history as Sturgeon's Law, painted in red.

If you're looking for recommendations, I of course would recommend my own stories (of course, what kind of monster isn't their own biggest fan?) but I also have a specific bookshelf for recommendations of what I consider to be the best/most interesting stories on the site written by other people, as well as a smaller one which contains the 15 very best stories on the site (the same ones I display on my user page). All of those 15 stories are quite excellent, so if you haven't read any of those, they're all worth reading. Also, if you've not yet read all of Ghost of Heraclitus's stories (or any of them), you should check at least one of them out.

There's some variety in my bookshelves in terms of genre, though, with a pretty wide variety of stories making their way in there. Unfortunately, I haven't reviewed most of them yet formally.

Of my own stories, The Collected Poems of Maud Pie are in the Royal Canterlot LIbrary, and The Stars Ascendant is very popular. All of my Celestia stories are considered to be pretty good, though; The Butterfly's Burden, Dawn, and Dusk are all very good stories. Though of course, I like all of my own stories. :rainbowwild:

2613526 Awesome, thanks.

And once again, the reigning-as-far-as-I-know site champion of being praised with faint damns. :fluttershyouch:

2613561
Well, I liked the idea behind the story, and I have liked some of your other stories a great deal! I was just a bit disappointed by this one because while what was there was good, it just... isn't done.

Probably not the best story to review right off the bat, seeing as incomplete stories are, well, incomplete and thus hard to judge, but I'd been putting off reading it for ages and the premise amused me - I do like Diamond Tiara.

I actually have a bunch of your stories marked. I'll probably try and stick to the finished ones.

A little while ago I was planning on doing something similar to your review with my read it later box. Then I got struck with laziness and school, so it probably won't happen anytime soon.

2613613
Yeah, that's probably how our read later lists got so long in the first place. :trixieshiftright:

I really don't understand the idea of not recommending a story based on it being incomplete. Reading a story as it's being written is half the fun of fan fiction... well, it is for me.

In any case, I thought my 800+ Read Later list was excessive. Clearly, I was mistaken. :twilightoops:

2613704
Well, there are half-written stories that I have greatly enjoyed reading - the ever-incomplete Composure would be a good example of this. I liked what was there. I was sad that there wasn't more, but I got where the story was going. Green has enough meat for me to sink my teeth into, even though it isn't done.

Unfortunately, this story is incomplete in the "we aren't even really into the real meat of the story yet" kind of way. Thus, despite being 16,000 words in, we're still not even quite to what is promised to us in the story description. The story is set up, but it feels a bit frustrating because all we have is the set up, and while that's decent enough, it is the sort of thing you'd want to, you know, read through.

I have the story followed and will likely give a new rating once it is, you know, actually done. And frankly I'm probably going to avoid other incomplete stories for this very reason - giving a review of something which isn't done isn't going to go very well if the story is very incomplete.

It seems like taking the time to write reviews for all of the stories in your Read It later list would actually make getting through it go even slower...

As such, if you are interested in the premise, I’d recommend marking it and coming back to it later once it is finished.

I'm surprised that someone who also has a large read later list would recommend that. That is an excellent way to never get around to reading a fic. I'm pretty sure that there are dozens of fics on my read later list that I added with the intention of reading them once they were complete, but I have no idea which ones those are (and they're buried under fics that were already complete when I added them). Although I suppose it would actually be feasible now, with a dedicated bookshelf...excuse me, I need to go set up a bookshelf.


2613704

In any case, I thought my 800+ Read Later list was excessive. Clearly, I was mistaken. :twilightoops:

i.imgur.com/z2t16YX.png
I have nearly 1750 on my read later list. I think I've been in four digits since...oh, last summer or so. I'm not sure why I bother with it, but I can't bring myself to delete it. The problem is that it has everything from stories that I saw and immediately wanted to read (or came very highly recommended), but couldn't read just then because of time constraints, to fics someone mentioned in passing in a blog or in the comments, to fics that I saw in the feature box with a vaguely interesting concept. With the addition of bookshelves I've been able to add a couple of new bookshelves that help, but that doesn't help me sort out the old list at all.

2614277 It requires more time to be spent on each story, sure. But it might also be motivating. If you like writing reviews, writing them will make each story take longer, but it could easily result in many more stories being read each week because now you're actually reading them instead of letting them sit on the list.

2614498

I'm surprised that someone who also has a large read later list would recommend that. That is an excellent way to never get around to reading a fic. I'm pretty sure that there are dozens of fics on my read later list that I added with the intention of reading them once they were complete, but I have no idea which ones those are (and they're buried under fics that were already complete when I added them). Although I suppose it would actually be feasible now, with a dedicated bookshelf...excuse me, I need to go set up a bookshelf.

Eyup. Know several people who set up bookshelves/tracking systems for exactly that.

2614277
Snowy pretty much answered this. It lets me pretend like I'm doing something productive. I'm sure that Present Perfect reads large numbers of stories for the same reason.

Not that I don't read plenty of stuff, mind, just that, you know, I have a terrible tendency to, well, not clear out my RL list. It isn't very useful if I put stuff on there and never read it.

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