Read It Later Reviews #56 – For a Friend, Rarity’s Mare of the Evening, Even in Dreams, Butterscotch, Snowflake Shoe-Hare · 4:26am Sep 7th, 2016
Howdy folks!
I’ve been trying to actually be active lately. As some of you might have noticed, I posted a new story yesterday:
Lord of the Dragons
by Titanium Dragon
Drama
2,625 wordsBefore the Gauntlet of Fire, Celestia, Luna, and Dragon Lord Torch meet to discuss the future of their kingdoms – and how to ensure that the next Dragon Lord is exactly who they want it to be.
After all, if Princess Ember is to win, something has to be done about all those adult dragons seen in the dragon migration...
If you’ve ever wondered where all the adult dragons from the dragon migration and other episodes went, or why the Gauntlet of Fire contained a maze or seemed to reward teamwork, or if you just like characters plotting politics, this might be up your alley.
I actually created a group for Dragon Lord Torch, who I think has a really fun voice but I have seen very, very few stories about. If you are aware of any Dragon Lord Torch stories, feel free to add them to the group.
Anyway, as I felt guilty about not reading other folks’ stuff after so many folks read my own stories, I thought I’d go and review some stories, including one I’ve been putting off reading for a long time.
Today’s stories:
For a Friend by Kodeake
Rarity’s Mare of the Evening by HoofBitingActionOverload
Even in Dreams by Chris
Butterscotch by Ceffyl Dwr
Snowflake Shoe-Hare by Estee
For a Friend
by Kodeake
Romance, Slice of Life
7,668 wordsRainbow Dash asks Twilight a question one early morning, claiming that she's asking for a friend. In the process she unknowingly sets Twilight out on a journey to find out who asked the question originally. With nothing but a single question to go on, Twilight tries to track down a mare that may not even exist.
Why I added it: It randomly caught my eye while I was browsing story titles.
Review
Rainbow Dash wants to know if Twilight likes mares.
After mentioning to Rainbow Dash that she was, in fact, bisexual, Rainbow Dash takes off for work… leaving Twilight to stew.
And by that I mean ask every mare in town if they were Rainbow Dash’s “friend” who wanted to ask her out.
Unfortunately, much as I love Twilight freaking out, I feel like this story failed to really properly escalate the ridiculousness. Instead, it ended up feeling kind of flat – Twilight goes to Rarity, then to Fluttershy, then to Pinkie Pie, all the while putting off Rainbow Dash, but the situation just doesn’t end up feeling like it escalates. Comedy stories, like all stories, need rising engagement, but this story ended up feeling kind of flat – rather than the scenes getting progressively funnier, they sort of felt the same, and didn’t feel like they really took different tacks. They all ended up feeling rather similar, and the story felt overly drawn out.
Recommendation: Not Recommended.
Rarity’s Mare of the Evening
by HoofBitingActionOverload
Romance
4,148 wordsWhen Rarity’s friends discover that she has been seeing an escort, they decide to investigate and find out why. What they discover is more shocking than any of them could have imagined.
Why I added it: I read it previously.
Review
This story is the original verison of Twisting Between the Sheets. It is much, much shorter than that story, and much less emotionally complicated – indeed, it is pretty much just a straight-up RariJack shipfic, as opposed to the complex emotional drama that is Twisting Between the Sheets.
Here, we see the same setup as the other story – and yet, it is greatly simplified by comparison. Sugar Sweet has very little personality here, and is not emotionally invested in Rarity. Conversely, Applejack is clearly romantically interested in Rarity here, and her actions appear to be driven more by jealousy than her distaste for prostitutes, as it is in Twisting Between the Sheets.
As in that story, the group goes to spy on Rarity, Rarity gets found out… and then Applejack runs off, Rarity chases her, and they go all shippy. The end.
What is interesting about this story is that it really shows how the same basic premise can be changed and turned into a much, much stronger story. Rarity’s Mare of the Evening is an okay story, but it is unexceptional, whereas Twisting Between the Sheets is a tense emotional drama which really makes you care about the ponies involved. This is something which might satisfy a RariJack shipper, but Twisting Between the Sheets is something which can satisfy a much broader audience.
It also shows how an idea you get for a shipfic might not always really make that much sense – Applejack gets over what happened awfully quick in this story, whereas in Twisting Between the Sheets, she gets much more upset, and her reaction (and Rarity’s freakout) feel vastly more meaningful. Rarity and Applejack simply don’t show the same depth of emotion here as they do in the later story, whereas Sugar Sweet is practically a non-entity.
Recommendation: Read Twisting Between the Sheets. This version of the story is okay, but is really only worth reading for examining how an okay story can be retooled into a much more awesome one.
Even in Dreams
by Chris
Slice of Life
1,469 wordsEverypony has dreams. Some dream of superpowers. Others dream of fame and respect. Still others dream of creature comforts, or of achieving long-sought goals.
But what sort of dream can stop the Tantabus?
Why I added it: Chris is a good writer.
Review
During the battle with the Tantabus, everypony in Ponyville is asked to pitch in to help. But Lyra, Bon Bon, Carrot Top, Berry Punch, Lily, and Minuette are all just so… boringly normal, they just don’t know how to help.
Okay, maybe not Minuette.
This is a story about the bystanders to the battle with the Tantabus, and it is a cute little thing. It is quite funny, but it also shows a fair bit of heart, and Carrot Top’s dream (and how it helps in the battle against the Tantabus) is a take on normalcy you don’t see nearly often enough.
In the end, this is a very simple story, but it is fun, and it is worth a few minutes of your time to read.
Recommendation: Recommended.
Butterscotch
by Ceffyl Dwr
Drama, Romance, Sad, Slice of Life
3,618 wordsFirst love is a powerful and intoxicating thing. But even when your shared memories grant you the strongest of foundations, sometimes you've just got to admit that if it isn't meant to be then it isn't meant to be.
Pinkie Pie doesn't want to admit that, though, even if Twilight Sparkle already has.
Why I added it: Someone recommended it to me.
Review
This is a story about Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle in a relationship. It starts out very cute and full of hope and light and laughter as the pair enjoy each others’ company, enjoy being around each other, enjoy each others’ presence and moods and foibles…
And then, over time, we watch as things slowly fall apart between them, and they can’t bring themselves to talk about it, no matter how much they try.
Told entirely from Pinkie Pie’s point of view, we’re given a large number of summaries of little things that Twilight and Pinkie Pie did together, or did for each other, and as the story goes on, Pinkie grows ever more depressed, and Twilight seems unable to really talk about their problems – or, possibly, break up with Pinkie.
This is, ultimately, a story about a relationship starting and eventually unravelling, and by the end of it, I felt sorry for both Twilight and Pinkie. It does a good job of conveying what is going on with surprisingly small snippets of events, and in the end, it all comes together very well.
If you want to see a story about the arc of a failing relationship, this is a good read.
Recommendation: Worth Reading.
Snowflake-Shoe Hare
by Estee
Gore, Adventure
10,275 wordsWhen the Element-Bearers are summoned to a mission, somepony has to fill in for their day jobs while they're gone. In Fluttershy's case, that pony is Snowflake, and has been for nearly two years. While he can't bring the talents of her mark to the job, he can keep the cottage running steadily until she gets back—
—with one lapine exception.
It's Snowflake vs. Angel Bunny. And the rabbit has the edge.
Why I added it: Estee is a good writer.
Review
Snowflake is a huge pegasus with tiny, tiny wings. He’s one of the strongest ponies in existed, with all his sheer muscular mass. He’s big, he’s loud, he’s scary…
…he’s actually pretty averse to actually using his muscles to actually hurt anything.
As a “self-employed” friend of Fluttershy, he steps in for her whenever she goes out on a mission with the rest of the bearers. Most of the animals like Snowflake well enough.
Except for Angel, whose name is as ironic as that of the big white pegasus.
This story is very info-dumpish and serves, in large part, as world-building – a huge amount of the story is devoted to explaining various features of Estee’s verse, while the rest serves as a story pitting Snowflake against Angel, and eventually the two having to work together due to a common threat.
This story is pretty slow-paced – a common flaw of Estee stories – but it does at least have a common thread throughout it as it tries to paint a better picture of just who Snowflake is as a pony, and how he sees the world.
At that, the story does a reasonably good job, and Estee’s world building is at least mostly interesting, though some things (such as Snowflake and Fluttershy’s mutual friend) are obscured for reasons which make no sense to me – why isn’t this pony named? I just don’t get it.
That said, the story’s pacing is pretty questionable – a lot of the story is pretty flat, and only a few scenes seem to have any real tension to them, until we get to the end, at which point the two have to work together. In the end, it is resolved (at least for the time being) and the story ends, feeling complete.
If you like Estee’s other works, and don’t mind the pacing of those, this is decent enough. But if you aren’t a big fan of Estee’s other works, this is really not going to change your mind about it – and if Estee’s slow pacing bothers you, this story is going to be offputting.
Recommendation: Worth Reading if slow pacing doesn’t bother you; avoid if you don’t like Estee’s other works or slow pacing drives you crazy.
Summary
For a Friend by Kodeake
Not Recommended
Rarity’s Mare of the Evening by HoofBitingActionOverload
Worth Reading
Even in Dreams by Chris
Recommended
Butterscotch by Ceffyl Dwr
Worth Reading
Snowflake Shoe-Hare by Estee
Worth Reading
And there we go!
I really need to figure out what story I’m going to work on next; I’ve got a bunch of stories in my backlog, but I like my newfound productivity and don’t want to lose the thread.
Until next time, I hope you enjoy some of these stories – and of course, that you enjoy reading about Dragon Lord Torch’s machinations in Lord of the Dragons if you haven’t gotten there yet. 
Number of stories still listed as Read It Sooner: 157
Number of stories still listed as Read It Later: 538
Number of stories listed as Read It Eventually: 1978
"Twisting Between the Sheets" is one of the few stories that's consumed my thoughts enough to actually put together a blog post about it, and yeah, you pretty much nailed the difference between it and its predecessor.
For all that it was very simple, "Even in Dreams" did a remarkable job of communicating a mood and delivering a twist on an episode. It's one of those stories (not unique among Chris's, and kind of like some of the other TD's) that does wholesomeness in a way that's more satisfying than I expect to see.
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Wholesome is a good way to describe the conclusion to "Even in Dreams". It is an interesting feeling. And you're right, the other TD does love his wholesome (sometimes tooth-achingly so) stories. It is something he is very good at.
I still haven't read a lot of what he has written, somehow.
And now I have to go read your blog post about Twisting Between the Sheets...
I suspect that's due to Snowflake Shoe-Hare's relation to Tryptich: it takes place concurrent with a few of Tryptich's early chapters, before the obscured stuff is revealed there. Presumably, having the peripheral side story take a hit was preferable to potentially spoiling scenes from the Continuum's core story.
This explains something. I've read Rarity's Mare of the Evening before, which is why the description for Twisting Between the Sheets sounded familiar, yet I hadn't actually read it.
Thank you for the review, TD! I was pleasantly surprised by the positive reaction this story has gotten, both from you and others; it's very much an Episode Followup Fic, and when I wrote it I didn't imagine that people would still be enjoying it more than a week after Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?
Well, it's also a little bit of a followup to Amending Fences; Minuette is too darn cheerful.
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4196435
I will never object to being described as "wholesome."
4197479
Minuette is adorable.
But yeah, it was a good story. It may be an episode follow-up, but it had a sweet little message to it and it made me smile.