Fic recs, January 8th! · 8:13pm Jan 8th, 2015
I am about to go upstairs and record a whole bunch of shit, including my top 20 pony songs of 2014 and the Best of SPRS 2014. But that doesn't mean I don't have time to do this, right? :D Not a lot of news today, either...
I don’t actually know what this is a reference to. The left side of this one is creepy, don’t read it.
Hit the break for Shedding Anxiety by Just Horsing Around, RainbowBob's Eternity, Aragon's Primal Fear and six more (probably) cool fics!
H: 0 R: 2 C: 3 V: 3 N: 1
Shedding Anxiety by Just Horsing Around
Reading by BigAshRandomVids
Genre: Weird
Sweetie Belle asks her sister what’s up after seeing Lyra run screaming through town.
This is basically just a short piece written around some really bizarre headcanon, but for what it is, it’s fun. It reminds me of another story (I won’t say which, that would give away the surprise), save that it approaches the subject matter with considerably more humor, despite not being tagged as such. Ultimately, the concept makes sense at least long enough to get through the story, and that’s all I can really ask for.
Recommended If You Like Weird Headcanon
FLaSHBA-CK by DerpyAnon
Genre: Comedy
Colgate invents a hat that lets her see into the past.
Dipping into the way-way-old writeoff entries here. (Dat prompt drop tho.) Two things get me about this story. First, the lesson learned is that ponies’ pasts aren’t really something you want to know. But those pasts aren’t neccessarily things you’d find happening in the show, so that Comedy tag gets a major workout as believability is stretched. Second, this is a story about an excitable, eccentric unicorn inventor who has a stolid earth pony companion. In other words, Lyra and Bon-Bon. Who also appear in the story. Or maybe Vinyl and Octavia. Point is, I was excited to see a new characterization for Colgate up until I realized it wasn’t new at all (even given its time) and the fandom has sunk into a rut. The only thing keeping this Colgatey at all is her time manipulation magic, but it wouldn’t be too hard to excise that from the story and still make it work with Lyra in the lead role. I can’t say it’s overall a bad story — watching Colgate slowly lose her mind as she discovers darker and darker secrets is fun — but it’s definitely not original. At least not in terms of its characters.
Vaguely Recommended
Eternity by RainbowBob
Reading by ABagOfVicodin
Genre: Character Study
Discord is summoned by his parents.
So the big thing about this is that Discord is a child, like maybe the equivalent of a late high schooler, and there are things out in the cosmos that are more knowledgeable, more vast, and more powerful than he is in current canon. Think about that. Of course, on the surface, this story mostly plays that idea for laughs: Discord's father is a black hole, his mother is a star cluster, and his Uncle Phil is better known as The Abyss. But after spending a lot of time introducing us to the family and to the idea of what Discord’s race and purpose are, this ends with a really profound look at the show, and I kind of don’t want to say more than that. Definitely one of RainbowBob’s best pieces.
Recommended
Eternal by Pastel Pony
Reading by Goombasa
Genre: Headcanon Dump
Sunset Shimmer discovers that her new neighbor is a certain defeated enemy.
It’s weird, because for one of my current ongoing projects, I just read another Sonata redemption fic with a very similar setup, so I’m getting a lot of cross-chatter thinking about this. Anyway, the thing that gets me about this is that Sonata is written very self-aware, able to give Sunset a full rundown of how the sirens came to be, and everything about them. Her knowledge is lampshaded, but I didn’t buy it much. Sunset’s at least written well, and I’ll admit that I did find some of the ideas about the sirens interesting. It’s just the way they’re gotten across that isn’t all that great. This isn’t exactly Sonata redemption, either; it’s more Sunset/Sonata friendshipping, though that’s certainly a first step toward redemption. I will note that Sonata is used primarily as a Sympathy Sue, which rubbed me the wrong way, so YMMV there. Still, not a bad fic overall, especially if you’re into Rainbow Rocks.
Recommended for Sonata Fans
Rain by FlameOfFaith
Reading by Captain Sand
Genre: Cute
Twilight attempts to teleport for the first time, in the rain.
Here’s one I read earlier! No idea how I came across it the first time, and I question my initial upvote, because the writing is very poor, fraught with LUS and downright bizarre POV issues. Of course, watching filly Twilight failing to use magic of any sort and then figuring it out is kind of adorable, and I’ll give the author points for making their explanation of magic kind of interesting. I can’t praise this too highly, though; it definitely shows its age.
Vaguely Recommended
Primal Fear by Aragon
Reading by Solar Pony and Kim Daniels
Reading by Lotus Moon
Genre: Horror
Rainbow Dash is not afraid of the monsters. She’s going into the Everfree to prove it.
If Chris hadn’t just reviewed this, I might not have looked closely at the text. I’m glad I did, because there’s a lot more here than even a good reading like Solar Pony’s suggests. I was praising the reading in my head for being really creepy, adding in a lot of sound effects and the like that draw out the horror atmosphere, but the fact is, he was just following the text. It’s all in there, textual gimmicks and illustrations included. And while Chris wasn’t too thrilled with the images, I am. Something about their simple pencil-and-paper nature only helps contribute to that atmosphere. (Then again, I have a problem with faces, so…) If I have any complaints about this, it’s that the specific type of repetition the author employed doesn’t always work. Otherwise, this is a good horror piece and an experiment that I would say works.
Recommended
What Costs Nothing by Godzillawolf
Reading by Dr. Wolf
Genre: Episode Followup
Discord goes to Tartarus to have a chat with Tirek.
Great concept, this one, and the conversation Discord and Tirek have plays out well, covering topics like friendship, power, greed and Tirek’s relationship with Scorpan. Discord’s motivations for doing this are surprising, and for all that he acts as the voice of Tirek’s would-be conscience, the story is every bit as much about him as Tirek. It's held back just a bit by the writing, however, mostly LUS (“the centaur” shows up far too much) and some nonspecific phrasing (describing Discord as looking “like a game show host” doesn’t convey much). I also wasn’t too keen on Discord’s single fourth-wall break. Still, I think the merits of the serious Discord/Tirek interaction are worth reading this for. If nothing else, as the author says, the idea has mostly been played for laughs by others.
Recommended If You Don’t Mind LUS
Rainbow Dash’s Darling Day by Mythril Moth
Reading by Scribbler, et. al.
Reading by VisualPony
Genre: Comedy
Rainbow Dash visits Carousel Boutique, but is acting… strangely…
I’m still on that G3 kick, I just haven’t gotten a chance to read much. Sadly, there’s not much here. While this is pitch-perfect G3 Rainbow, and it’s a lot of fun watching Rarity slowly lose her nerve from all the “darling”, the story moves super-fast and doesn’t really give us enough to go off of. Even given the low word count, it’s a bit of a stretch to say this is really worth reading.
Not Recommended
The Price You Pay by Valkyra
Reading (part 1) by FFFluttershy169
Genre: Character Death
Rainbow Dash’s friends have all left her.
This is one of those future fics where it seems like the idea is to let the reader know what order you think the mane six will die in. Leaving Rainbow Dash as the final one was kind of interesting (I usually knock her off first, if I'm not feeling cruel enough to afflict another with accident or sickness), but in the end, well, it's just a story about ponies dying and meeting back up in the aftermath. I leaked some tears, but I always choke up at these kinds of stories, and I can't say whether this one was particularly good or just playing for feels. I will credit the author with more or less flawless writing, I'm just not sure if this is otherwise effective.
Vaguely Recommended
>not understanding a Dora reference
PP pls :(
You are a-dora-ble PP...
If there's one thing I hate, is this necessity to write every single background pony the exact same fucking way. The cool thing about background ponies is how they're a white canvas -- you can do whatever the everloving Christ you want with them, and yet people always go for the easy route and write an excited Lyra, a down-to-earth Bon Bon, a fancy Octavia, a wild Vinyl... It gets so boring after a while.
Never seen it with Colgate, tho, so I won't judge -- I actually encourage writing her like your usual Lyra, and then changing how Lyra acts. Seriously, I get that the fanon personalities are there for a reason (they're familiar, they work, and sometimes people want to read about those ponies that this hivemind of us has created), but there's a point in which it's just ridiculous. I love it when people change the background ponies and make them fresh and new, it always gives the story this autenticity, y'know? Hell, that's why I wrote LSSTWD on the first place, and judging by how people reacted, it fucking worked.
Blaargh. Rant over.
Now I'mma read that RBob story. Also, I gotta see if there's any fic out there that plays with the "Sonata/Girl that it's not Sonata but also not the leader" relationship, because I found their banter pretty amusing. Nothing shippy or anything, just those two against the world. You can even throw Adagio in there, because this "straight man/idiot/sarcastic asshole" combination they have is great for a good old banter-filled comedy. I can even give a prompt for that shit: the Sirens accidentally steal a police car and now they gotta run from whatever equivalent for the FBI exists in the EQGverse. Fast-paced action with as much fucking idiocy as possible, and comedy everywhere. Tell me that wouldn't be absolute gold, man.
Also, yay, you reviewed Primal Fear. I wasn't that interested in the review as I was on the live reading thing, tho -- I know aboslutely nothing about live readings, so I wanted to see if that one was as good as it sounded to me. It has sound effects! How cool is that?!
As per the repetition in the text -- mneh, I wrote that when I wasn't that good in English, so it sounds corny to me. Dunno, I guess it sort of works. Even Chris said the text is competent, he just disliked the pics, so I guess it's not as bad as I thought it was. A relic from my pre-Daring DONE! time, I guess, when I still had less than 40 followers and couldn't write in English at all. Oh, how time flies.
41.media.tumblr.com/cad1717e481371c9cad47b174713d121/tumblr_muf2nwOlxV1r41w9do2_500.jpg
See, you got me all excited, but then I actually looked and was like :/
2709289
Oddly enough, the still-learning-English might have worked in your favor on this story: the measured, contraction-less style helps evoke a sense that something is amiss, which builds tension for you nicely. I don't know exactly how much was on purpose and how much was language-learner simplicity, but the net effect (and the fact that you didn't, you know, make a bunch of grammar mistakes that would have tipped your hand) was positive!
2709265
Excuse me for not being five years old. :V
2709289
That would have worked had Lyra had any actual characterization in this story. She just kinda shows up and leaves. :B
2709318
Yeah, well you like Twilestia. :V
Ah, I had completely forgotten that Shedding Anxiety existed. I share your opinion on the story's categorization and what it is. I use the :| face as my "no vote" icon for a reason, and that's definitely a story which earned it.
"Eternal. Recommended if you like Sonata."
One problem: Sonata isn't in this story.
If you hadn't mentioned the "lampshaded" bit I would have stopped at her first big out of character paragraph, thumbed it down, and closed the tab. Instead I finished reading, saw the flippant reasoning for why Sonata might act this way, rolled my eyes, extra-hated on the main headcanon because it makes zero sense in the context of the Sirens clearly being sea-dwelling creatures, caught a handful of distracting writing errors (it's a curse), got to the end... THEN thumbed it down and closed the tab.
The fact that Sonata was acting so OOC should have come up within the first third of the story, not in the last two pages. Sunset should have asked almost immediately, "Wait, why are you acting this way?" and Sonata could have said, "It's a long story," and gotten to it eventually. It's so obvious that Sonata was acting peculiar that I'd argue it was OOC for Sunset to NOT notice it or bring it up within a few sentences of talking.
Aaanyway, it was just weird: I usually like your recommendations, and a good half of the fanfics I've read in the past 6 months have been because of you. When I don't like something you recommended I usually am quite fine with it. In this case though, your recommendation wasn't just against my tastes, it was... misleading? Gasp! It's okay, I'll forgive you eventually.
2710335
As much as I respect when people don't agree with my stories (it happens, what am I gonna do about it?), I'm gonna have to call bullshit on the Sirens 'clearly being sea-dwelling creatures'. We see them float through the air in the final confrontation scene, and they are shown the same way when introduced in the old-fashioned storybook setting.
It's fine to not agree with my portrayal of Sonata, but please don't lose the plot over something that has as much canon support for the sirens being not strictly sea-dwelling creatures as it does for them being sea-dwelling creatures. Either interpretation has its own rational reasoning.
And if their are writing errors, for goodness sake tell me. I do all my editing myself, and I am always looking to improve upon these things.
That said, I'm sorry you didn't like the story, and can only hope if you ever come across my work again it will have a more positive appeal for you.
2710335
Obviously I am machinating a conspiracy to lead people to read bad stories. :V
2710634 I wouldn't call them exclusively sea-dwelling creatures, but I feel that it's pretty clear from the storybook that the sea is their natural environment:
i.imgur.com/L4DdItJ.png
The sirens were three beautiful but dangerous creatures who had the power to charm ponies with their music.
They first appeared on seaside rocks.
i.imgur.com/wiUaIeS.png
But to maintain this power, they had to feed on the negativity and distrust of others.
The first time they're shown influencing ponies is at the seaside.
i.imgur.com/Liyag8z.png
The more of this negative energy they consumed, the stronger their voices became,
Next we see them still singing at the seaside, and depending on interpretation probably emerging from the sea to sing to more ponies and gain more power.
i.imgur.com/d8eCiOI.png
and the farther they could spread their dark magic.
Then we see them floating over ponies further inland, continuing to spread their influence. (Keep in mind that it's also open to interpretation that this was just their influence looming over everyone, not them actually flying, being symbolic within the storybook.)
So, we have a storybook progression: they started in the ocean, they gathered their power there, they emerged when they had the ability, and continued to spread outward from there. Then, Star Swirl did his thing to send them away.
Seems like a very similar thing happened in Rainbow Rocks. First they could barely get a room angry enough to feed on, then they got a high school more and more riled up, and that gave them enough energy to fully entrance the students and project versions of themselves that could move around in the air.
Then there are other little points:
* Speaking from mythology, sirens were "dangerous yet beautiful creatures" (to quote Wikipedia) that lured sailors to their death from seafaring boats with song. Clearly the creators of Rainbow Rocks were at least somewhat inspired by the original sirens for these characters.
* Their visual design seems obviously inspired by the hippocampus, just like sea ponies from G1.
* Their tails are fish-like. I mean, that's objectively clear.
* When their projections move at the end of the movie, they swim through the air rather than just "fly."
This is all more than enough that having an origin story for the sirens not mention the ocean at all just makes me go, "What?" Not even one mention of water? There are ways to BS around it, like, "Star Swirl based our designs on deep sea creatures that could attract their prey with noise that was similar to singing, and as we got stronger we eventually could fly rather than swim." Honestly though, at that point it's just BSing to make the facts fit rather than creating something in a natural progression, IMO.
I don't think your writing is bad, nor do I think the story is actually bad... it just gave me a pretty negative reading experience.
That's heavily due to the order of events for me reading it:
1. I read PP's recommendation. It put in my mind that "If I like Sonata, I'll like this story."
2. I went to the story and read to the first large paragraph from Sonata. I had a really strong kneejerk reaction to the fact that she didn't sound like Sonata at all.
3. I closed the tab, and re-read PP's recommendation.
4. I begrudgingly re-opened it, in a sense of "I'll give the author the benefit of the doubt that there's a reason why Sonata isn't Sonata in this Sonata fic."
5. I kept reading and found some mistakes like " hers' " while I kept reading. That combined with still being confused why Sonata sounded wrong and Sunset didn't seem to notice slowly made me more and more frustrated with my reading experience. I like to be immersed, not repeatedly wondering why I'm reading.
6. Then I started wondering why the whole "aquatic creatures" aspect didn't come up. That also broke my immersion.
7. I got to the WHY of Sonata acting like she does and sighed. It really felt flippant to me, like, "Oh yeah, I should mention this before the story ends," after reading in frustration for that long.
Ergo, when I finished I was unhappy I'd decided to read it. And, obviously, that's not how I wanted to feel.
2710634 Generally speaking I don't like to try to drag people into debatey discussions. However, I do want to say that I feel rather disrespected by the fact that you called my claim about the sirens "bullshit" but when I took the time to construct my point of view for you, and carefully explain why my reading experience was so negative despite the fact that your story isn't objectively bad, you didn't reply at all.
I know you weren't ASKING me to defend my point of view, but I hope you can understand how when you outright call it bullshit while I had such a mountain of logic behind it I felt the need to point out some facts...
2725796
I read your comment and meant to write back, I just... well, forgot. I'm a complete scatterbrain, to be honest. I'm always forgetting to respond to people.
Oh god, sorry.
I really appreciated you taking the time to explain why you got such a negative impression of my story, and providing the evidence for why you felt the sirens were sea-dwellers. It actually made me rethink my perspective on them a bit.
As for calling it 'bullshit', again, I'm sorry. I have a really bad habit of using crude language when it's not needed. I wasn't trying to be rude, I swear.
2726234 Heck, if that's all it was, then... well, yeah, I'm just as guilty as anyone when it comes to forgetting things now and then. And I really appreciate you taking the time to let me know that's what happened and your reaction to my reply. So, no worries on that front, that whole "feeling disrespected" thing is totally evaporated and I feel a little sheepish about even saying it.
In hindsight I'd say that "I call bullshit" is a little different from saying "your point of view is bullshit" so no worries there either. It feels like more of a "prove it" statement than a rude or crude one, so I guess when I did make an effort to back up my claims and I didn't hear back for a week or so that just made me all disgruntlefied. Which I no longer am!
So. Uh. Insert awkward silence and amiable handshake here. Yes.
2727805
Oh good, I was terrified I'd really offended you.
So yes, amiable handshake and all that.
Thanks for changing up my views on the sirens a bit.