R4 (Reactions, Reviews, Reference, Redirection) #0139

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Here are five slightly edited old reviews:
A Spell for Lyra by Kolwynia
Be Strong Now by Closer-To-The-Sun
Ditz and Spitz: Origin of Derpy by Poinger
A Bolder Note Than This by Headless
First Week of Winter by Relaxing Dragon

A Spell for Lyra by Kolwynia
[story link] [my original review]

This one is sad. I found it well-written and touching. Might just be because I’m a sucker for in-universe fiction (letters/notes/etc) such as this. I do like the idea that Twilight has other friends outside the mane six. Those five are as close as family, but she would have other friends and acquaintances. She would love someone to talk magic theory with, as an example.

Be Strong Now by Closer-To-The-Sun
[story link] [my original review]

Sweet story, a little sad. Maybe more than a little. It’s a letter from Applejack’s father to her, written soon after she was born. Plenty sentimental. Decent writing, but nothing jaw-dropping.

Ditz and Spitz: Origin of Derpy by Poinger
[story link] [my original review]

This is a backstory of Ditzy story. I liked Sisters Do better, but this was still good. Some fairly heavy feels in here, some a bit bluntly executed. No real lightness or comedy. I’d recommend this for Ditzy fans and anyone who doesn’t mind somewhat heavy-handed emotion-tugging. I’m starting to really like Spitfire as a character. Might need to look up more Wonderbolt fan fiction.

A Bolder Note Than This by Headless
[story link] [my original review]

Another story that left me wanting more. This gives a good emotional moment, but without any real context. So more of less it is just heart-tugging for its own sake. With more build-up and character development this would be an amazing story. As it is, it’s just a solid scene.

First Week of Winter by Relaxing Dragon
[story is tagged mature] [my original review]

This had way too much crammed into it. This was a good story that was trying too hard. Had some decent horror moments, but just isolated ones that didn’t really connect. This was a mix of My Little Pony, John Carpenter’s The Thing, and the movie The Mouth Of Madness. Too much going on. The Thing mixed with pony might be good, though that level of paranoia in MLP is a hard sell. Mouth of Madness with pony could work pretty well. Both together is just muddled.

There were a lot of boring parts and the pacing was poor. It kept building up something, had a big reveal scene, then more dull business as usual scenes. The built-up moments had no real impact and we got no afterward reactions. I wouldn’t call this a great story and the mane six aren’t written all that well. It’s hard to believe they would distrust each other so easily considering that in the middle of a changeling invasion the words ‘real me! real me!’ is considered a good enough proof of identity.

First half of the original review. Covers most of what I felt about it though.

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