Horse Voice-Esque Stories #1; Also, I'm Big in Japan · 4:34pm Mar 26th, 2015
"Dear Celestia, today I learned that comedy is hard."
Everyone knows that, of course, but the true difficulty doesn't really sink in until you attempt it. But it's worth it in the end, when the feedback shows your work has effected someone in a positive way. Not long ago, Haru, the gentleman who did the Japanese translation of Long Live Sonata Dusk, sent me translations of a few comments from Japan's small brony contingent. Most were general praise: "I like the worldview", "simply approachable", "Very good description" and so forth. But the one that stuck out at me read, "Even though the main theme is dark, the story was refreshing my soul with the lesson of 'A little daily effort will add up to a great future'."
And it's true. I've gotten used to tackling life projects and finishing them as quickly as possible, but that doesn't work with writing. It's necessary to take a step forward every day--even a small one--to have a chance of really getting somewhere.
Luckily, I've reached the point with my new story where I'm catching myself having fun with it. My diabolical scheme is to wait until a certain new episode comes out, then adjust the story as needed and try to catch lightning in a bottle with the release date.
Until then, here are a few pieces to keep the proverbial wolves from the door. I must emphasize, there are plugs, not reviews.
by Filler
When PresentPerfect described Wild Fire as "Beyond the Wall by way of Biblical Monsters," I said, "uh-oh." It was the sort of uh-oh that accompanies your own work being a bit too coincidentally similar to someone else's. The similarities are close and numerous enough that you could almost be forgiven for thinking I ripped Filler off. But I had never read it before then, and my story was inspired by this song and some local history in my part of the world.
Regardless, Filler's story is in the Pony Fiction Vault for a reason, and it's worth a look if you're interested in something off the beaten track.
by PresentPerfect
Speaking of PresentPerfect, this was his entry for the original Most Dangerous Game contest, and placed just behind Johnny Never Knew. I once had a similar idea to this, but could never quite make it work on paper, which is why I'm glad for it having been written. Whereas mine would have been merely scary, this is an uncompromising look at themes of personal responsibility and unintended consequences.
There is a monster in this story, and it isn't the creature.
by Violet CLM
I consider this an accidental sister story to Long Live Sonata Dusk. They're both one-shots about the sirens, released on the same day, (though mine was uploaded earlier) and involve Mr. Death, an accident on a highway, and a twist at the end. For all that, the theme manages to be completely different. But while my story was featured in a couple of places for being under-viewed, this one didn't even have that to save it from being largely ignored. This story, and its author, deserve at least a few more eyeballs.
Oh, and I dare you to even try and guess the twist at the end.
by NorsePony
Could a pony story with hardly any actual ponies be good? Well, yes. To my mind, the idea that ponies pushed someone else out of the land now called Equestria when they migrated there is such an obvious one, I'm surprised I don't see more stories like this. Then again, any others would be hard-pressed to measure up. This is a fine example of not only an all-OC cast, but an original civilization done right. If I ever wrote a war story, it would probably look a lot like this.
Armchair strategists will be especially interested to note (major spoiler!) the fatal mistakes made by the reindeer army, and their consequences.
(Oh, and if anyone knows a pony story more "metal" than this, that is of a similar or greater quality, let me know.)
Until next time, ponies.
I know a "metal" story...
Heyyy, Beyond the Wall! Found that one through Ponychan of all places, as I recall... takes me back.
The War and What Came After is one of those stories that "sold" me on the concept of fanfiction in general. The setting, the worldbuilding, the synchronization with canon...all of it was done so well. The magic is so wonderful; it feels so different but at the same time so similar to how we think it should work that it just makes sense.
Yes, go and read it. 100 times yes.
Huh. It's the other way around for me: the ponies obviously didn't displace anyone else, because that kind of thing is fundamentally out of place against the background of cheerful optimism we see in the show.
2913358
I fuckin' adore Beyond the Wall, I'm so glad you gave that a spot. :D
2913649 Yes, the Appleoosans seemed to be very cheerful and optimistic about their annexation of the traditional buffalo stampeding grounds.