Cerulean's Voice On The Matter #11 · 2:50am Mar 14th, 2015
Here’s some more treats from my personal favourites list. I expect these review lists to eventually diminish with time as I end up reading the same stories over and over, but for now there are still quite a few new ones with recent updates. Keen to see what I as a reviewer and critic find myself enjoying? Look no further! There’s a few here today.
Previously-reviewed stories with new chapters read: Princess Celestia: The Changeling Queen, The Gentle Nights: Audience of One, Not The Hero, Asylum
Story: Kill The Lights
Author: Cyneryk
Synopsis:
When seven ponies wake up in a large mansion, unknowing of their situations and the others themselves, they find that they are involuntarily thrown into a game of endurance, and survival. The rules are simple: Do not fall asleep.
The last one awake gets to walk away, free.
The other six will never wake up.
Just how "overrated" is sleep, anyways?
Length: 40,986 words over 8 chapters, averaging 5,123 words per chapter
Status: Incomplete
Review: Kill The Lights follows the “Last Man Standing” theme that stories like Battle Royale, Death Race, and The Condemned are all about: multiple entrants, only one survivor. The very theme keeps the whole story palpable with tension, since literally every second is bringing the characters closer to their highly likely doom. Unlike the aforementioned titles, the characters aren’t actively being encouraged to murder each other in this story; rather, they simply need to stay awake, as a drug is active in their bloodstream that will kick in the moment they give into fatigue. Seven ponies wake up in a room together after hearing a mysterious voice from a pony simply calling himself “E” who explains the whole situation. They were all specially chosen to be in his “game” for a reason, though what that his reasoning is has not yet become clear. I immediately thought of Saw V at this point, with “E” reminding me a lot of Jigsaw, however there is no gore to speak of here. This sort of reads like a cross between a drama series and a reality show, with the viewpoint switching between characters fairly frequently. It’s a very psychological story, getting right into each character’s head in a great example of how to use the third-person-omniscient style effectively. Tenor, Sketch, Gallant, Alloy, Buttermilk, Swallow, and Miso are all very different characters, having a broad range of very distinct personalities. No matter how well you might think things will work out for a certain character, it’s impossible to guess just who might go out next. One has already fallen asleep, and in the latest chapter, another has, although the cliffhanger has left them unidentified. If there’s one thing that goes against this fic, it’s the fact that every character is an OC, and so it doesn’t feel very “pony” apart from the fact that they’re in pony bodies. Otherwise, the writing’s decent enough, and for all his other weaknesses, Cyneryk shines when it comes to creating unique, individual characters. I recommend this to fans of psychological stories who love getting inside characters’ heads.
Story: Dust and Harmony
Author: KitsuneRisu
Synopsis:
The signs have fallen. The notorious outlaw Raven Lune is coming back, and she's looking to take out a few good ponies in a bid for revenge. There's nothing left to do but for Mayor Celeste to send one of her best deputies to the burg of Ponyton to make sure Lune doesn't succeed. But to do so, the deputy is going to have to find a weapon - one whose secrets are buried deep within the citizens of Ponyton, its only purpose to destroy all whom stand in its way.
A weapon by the name of Harmony.
Length: 30,198 words over 3 chapters, averaging 10,066 words per chapter
Status: Incomplete
Review: One of my favourite types of stories is the “Retell,” in which authors put their own unique spin on the plot or outline of an episode. I myself have done so, with The Ultimate Alicorn, although that’s basically a “what-if-this-happened-instead?” kind of story. No, I mean I really love it when a writer can take the core of an idea—just the core—and completely strip its surroundings to the barest of bones, rewrap the idea in their own words, and yet have it be recognisable in every sense. Dust and Harmony is one such story, giving an olden-day “wild western” feel and setting to the pilot episodes of MLP. Characters and settings are similar in mostly only subtle ways, but the new interpretations of the characters and settings have given them all this incredibly new life and spirit that still screams of who they are. It’s a deliciously fun story: Sheriff Constance S. Twilight—and her thief-turned-deputy, Spike—are sent by Mayor Celeste of Cantermore to retrieve fragments of the ultimate gun, Harmony, from a select few secret ponies in the nearby county of Ponyton, where the outlaw Raven Lune is tipped to make a reappearance after a long absence. It’s such a joyous romp through the minds of these completely different yet familiar characters that I just want more! If you’ve ever wanted to read a story about a badass, badge-wearin’, gun-slingin’ Twilight in a western setting with an accent that would put Applejack’s to shame, now is your best shot—after a long absence, KitsuneRisu has returned and has posted the latest two chapters fairly recently. I have high hopes for this story… please don’t let it stall like The Country of Roses, or cancel like Friendship is Software.
Story: The Elite
Author: Novus Draconis
Synopsis:
Spitfire, Captain of the Wonderbolts Elite, has her hands full. The Elite are known for their talents in death-defying stunts and their ability to work as a team. Unfortunately, that reputation doesn't extend to their personal lives. Through the backstabbing, relationships, and family issues, she must fight to keep her team together while presenting the perfect image for the world
Length: 8,238 words over 3 chapters, averaging 2,746 words per chapter
Status: Incomplete
Review: For a long time, The Elite sat dormant in my tracking list, having not updated since June the previous year. Now it’s back, as Novus breaks his writer’s block. This one of his lowest rated stories, which is rather unfortunate, because there are few stories out there that feature the Wonderbolts as central characters without Rainbow Dash being somehow involved. I don’t just mean the Team Leaders, either: Surprise and Icarus have also made appearances so far. Throw in the fact that it features the Wonderbolts as humans, a type of rescue squad with quick response times, and it makes for some all-round different reading. Spitfire takes the central spotlight, and the story is focused on her as she strives to keep her team together and train the new academy recruits up to their strict standards. Novus has done a number of things to Spitfire’s character that I’ve never seen before, such as given her an Irish vocal dialect (with a crass mouth to boot), drawn out her backstory a little to show what kind of leader / person she really is, and even shown why she even bothered to join the ‘Bolts in the first place. While there’s barely been any actual plot progression so far, what is there establishes the core of many characters. If I could describe how it feels to read this, it’s almost like the pilot episode of an anime coming to life before my eyes, which (if you know which immensely popular comic strip one of his other stories is based off) is hardly surprising. There’s a bit of foul language in there, mostly from Spitfire herself, so be aware of that. So far though, with an opening to establish setting and environment, a more humourous second chapter, and a more subdued, personal latest chapter, it definitely has potential, even if plotline is still practically non-existent.
Story: Letters From a Disgruntled Friendship Student
Author: milesprower06
Synopsis:
Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia's most prized and faithful student, is being sent to Ponyville to learn about the magic of friendship.
And she's not happy about it.
Length: 64,090 words over 123 chapters, averaging 521 words per chapter
Status: Incomplete
Review: Kicking around since June 2012, Letters is an alternate universe where Twilight Sparkle is a stuck-up, elitist, racist, nymphomaniacal bitch with an oppressive teacher just out to put her in bad situations for her own amusement. It’s obviously a comedic parody, with Twilight being downright unpleasant to everyone around her and constantly complaining about how much friendship sucks. While it definitely started out pretty funny (for those who aren’t easily offended, anyway, as it’s mostly centred around recurring jokes about sex, incest, drugs, slavery, and oppression among other things), the novelty faded fairly quickly as the formula just became tired, overused, and over-abused before too long. In an effort to switch things up, the author started writing “bonus chapters” during each season’s hiatus from season 3 onward. As a result, the chapters became even more outrageous and nonsensical, and the story now contains a whole lot of meta-humour which were hot issues at the time but will most certainly fade away into irrelevance within a few short years. It has its own spinoff, Responses To A Disgruntled Friendship Student, which I have already reviewed before, and is written in very much the same vein. Mostly I continue following this series because I have for so long, but I admit the meta-humour was worn on me a long time ago. If you aren’t already reading Letters, I wouldn’t advise starting now, because while it was fun to keep up with back in its earlier days, it won’t be very satisfying to go back and read from the beginning. I will, however, give the author props for having written what, iirc, was the first fic to reach a million total views (currently sitting at 1.1M as of this review) on Fimfiction.net.
And now I find myself brainstorming another story when I should be a) reading, b) editing for others who are waiting on me, c) continuing my own stories on hiatus, d) eating. (In that order)
Dammit.
Have a good weekend, everyone!
Adren
That title was the best thing that's come out of my keyboard in a while xD
And I don't regret a thing.
2874716
Seems to have stuck like Velcro, huh?
Any thoughts on the fics?
2874718
Def agree on Letters. I liked it in S1, after that... Eh.
Gon' look at the rest later today :D
I was not a fan of Kill the Lights. Can't remember why, though.
2875611 Oh yeah, it has a bit of a problem with some grammar, but I found it to be largely not worth worrying about. The biggest point against it is the all-OC cast, which makes it feel not very pony.
2875638
Yeah, the OC cast didn't help, and I found the concept to be kinda super-edgy, which didn't help the poniness even more.
2875648
Dust and Harmony is totally worth it though. KR is a great author.
2875654
I think I'm tracking that one. :)
Aw, thanks =3
Glad I was freaking out for a good reason yesterday =D