Review: Imposing Sovereigns Stories, Madmares · 7:47pm May 5th, 2017
We come at last to the final entry in this "Why the hell did I get myself into this? ....Oh right, it seemed like a good idea and then you all were so awesome and supportive and liked it so much no way was I not following through." Line of reviews. The Madmares! Princesses who have lost their sanity. Who have stepped over the fine line between genius and madness. Who have stared to long into the abyss and had the abyss stare back. Who looked out into The Black and were overwhelmed by the emptiness of it all. Who have walked that horseshoe of reality to the point where what is real and what is not become on in the same. Will these Matrons of Madness be able to carry some incredible stories? Or will they be but pale shadows of the one true Madness that is Janeway? If you don't get that, why the hell are you not watching SF Debris?
Creepy! As! Tartarus!
That pretty much sums up this story. Cadance has been feeling... not herself. Things that she has known for years are feeling unfamiliar to her. Even the face she sees in the mirror looks wrong. While things she has never known before, things she could never have known before, feel intimately familiar. What makes this story work so well is the ambiance, the mood, the mindset. Just how well this story gets us into Cadance's head. Let's us feel the slow slipping of her sanity. The fear, the confusion. All the while that hint that there is something else there. Something in her mind, taking over. Her denial, the way she tried to ignore it, everything is so well done, so emotive.
As I've said a few times already, I am not a huge fan of ambiguous endings on the whole, yet even though the story does end with a huge "What just happened"? and with no real answer for where things go from here, it was still a thoroughly amazing ride. There is enough for us to have a rather good idea of what is going on. At least the broad strokes. But no details, no hints on how this will be dealt with. If Cadance can ever again have a peaceful night without wandering the halls of her palace in a daze, never knowing when she might slip away, be replaced forever. Even if then she might finally get some sleep.
Prompt-Princess? Check. Madness? Ohhhhhhh boy is that ever a check. This is, as above, simply an amazing use of this idea to truly show the slow descent into madness. To see a pony slipping away. Feel the fear, the horror, the denial. To truly experience it in all it's terrible glory.
Overall: Incredible
The Last Sunset, by: River Road
Another fic exploring the devastation of the 'Wasteland' Timeline. Though at least this time our 'Princess" in question isn't the one who bucked things up. The world was already fucked when Sunset came through the portal. Seriously, it really was and you can't prove otherwise!
So, there is a lot to talk about with this story, it's hard to know where to start. I really liked the journal entries, it was a good use of that style to convey a lot of information quickly and simply. Plus had a really good in 'verse reason for it. Everything Sunset encountered made sense and were some great ideas. With those the only thing that didn't really make sense was Luna devolving into a Flutterbat style Bat-Pony. The whole reason given for her turning into a bat-pony at all was rather iffy, but serviceable and worked well enough for the story. But the reason given did not match how she was acting. Just, felt odd.
The whole half/half thing was odd, it made for a really great 'wtf' at first, and some great symbolism of how divided she was at the time. Plus gave a bit of a better reason for the whole inner debate a lot use with Sunset. But it didn't go anywhere. After the initial body horror revelation, it's not really a factor again till it's cured. So, that whole thing felt kind of off and didn't make a whole lot of sense. Plus Dawn and Dusk felt rather underutilized as well, though great idea. That is really the best way to sum up this story, it has a LOT of great ideas, but the speed it goes at and the way it's told don't really work well to add a whole ton of depth or weight to them. It is great at conveying Sunset's emotions, her loneliness, desperation, her joy at finding others etc... Plus hearing about her grove flourishing and starting to grow, a small bit of hope in the empty wastes was great.
But as above, the story has a lot of great ideas, is well done overall, yet also has some ideas that don't feel fully fleshed out. The story kind of feels like a bunch of stuff was just tossed into a crock pot set to "Narrative" and served. It makes a really good story, but one that doesn't quite feel as good as it could. The story's largest iffy point to me is that feeling. Like things are being done, just for the sake of having them in the story, more then a well planned out, detailed series of events. It is hard to really explain without going into a whole long bit about how I look at stories, but in simplest terms, it is a story that very much feels like we are being told a story. As such it does work on a few levels, especially seeing as how that IS what is going on. We are reading the story Sunset is telling about her life in the Wastes. This isn't bad, but is a bit limiting.
Prompt- Princess Sunset is awesome, One of the above 'Feels more tossed in then planned out' bits though as to why? How? But, it works for the story. There are many possible reasons that could happen. But it felt more like it happened, just cause the story wanted it to. As to "madmare" the opening bit was rather well done, the madness of seeing her world like this. The pain of her transformation, the loneliness, it had a lot of good things for driving her to the brink, and we do see her very tenuous grasp on sanity. Yet, it goes nowhere. After she finds somepony else it's dropped. This really does feel more like it should be in the 'Survivor" category rather then 'Madmare.'
Overall:Great
The Perfect Rule of Empress Flurry Heart, by: Razor Blade the Unicron
What did I just read? What was this chaotic mess of insanity? Is this a story? Is it meant to be? Or is it simply madness itself made manifest in words? They say there is a thin line between madness and genius. That the two are like a horseshoe, where either end is so close to the other as to be nearly impossible to tell the difference. Which is this story? Is it even a story? As a story, simply as a retelling of events it, it makes sense, but it is the sense of madness, only through accepting the insanity of Flurry Heart does any of it make sense. As a window into madness itself? Is that what this is meant to be? All is chaos, insanity! All is perfection and greatness!
Fun bit over and serious talk now. This is.... a very.... very... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot fic that is almost impossible for me to really look at. As a story it is.. weak, it's just, so much going on, so little explanation. Treating it like any other A to B narrative it does not hold up well. But, looked at in a slightly more abstract way? It is surprisingly effective at conveying the idea of madness. And the ways in which as a narrative it sort of fails for me are the ones that best convey that insanity. As a story, I can't say I much liked it. As an experience? This was so damn interesting and maddening, and again.. either a mad mish mash of nonsense churned out to fill a word count, or a work of genius conveying the very concept of madness itself.
Prompt- Well, Flurry Heart is a Princess.... and this story very, very much belongs in the category about madness.
Overall: Iä! Iä! Flur'thul'hu fhtagn!
Ember, Hoardsmelter, by: Bugsydor
We go from a work that is so insane and nonsensical it might have looped around the horseshoe of reality into genius and into a story about a genius whose actions make some believe they must be mad. Or, is it she alone who is sane and those who doubt her that are mad? Granted given the main doubter we see is Garble 'mad' does just about cover it, for another meaning of the term at least.
I loved this look at the rule of Dragon Lord Ember. The story does a great job of fleshing out Dragon culture, making clear it's failings. Primarily that there really is not a lot of 'culture' in the first place. That dragons are simply more concerned with themselves. That there is little that unites them and defines them as a group beyond greed. Then showing Ember changing that. Working on building something larger. Taking that greed and using it. Making an appeal towards their desires for wealth and shinnies in such a way that leads them towards creating a fuller, richer society. All told through the lens of the Dragon least willing towards or capable of understanding any of it and who sees it all as simple madness. As Ember destroying what being a Dragon means. Wholly unaware of how well it's working even as following her policies enriches him faster then he'd ever thought.
This really is a work of near genius, that shows why true genius can be so misunderstand. Not in the trite, cliched way that some failures of an 'artist' try and use while justifying why nothing they do ever succeeds *Cough* Zephyr Breeze *Cough*. But in a sadly realistic way of people who are stuck in their mindset, unwillingness towards considering that anything but what they already know matters, and sure of their own intelligence while being rock stupid failing at understanding anything complex they don't like. Just dismissing it without any thought or looking at the facts. I simply love the way Garble is used here. Showcasing both the resistance towards change, as well as how it is needed, how even those that hate ideas can benefit from them. All while believing it's all them. That the idea really is as stupid as they believe. But they are simply smart enough that they make it work. I love Ember's policies and the way she goes about doing them. Showing both a desire for helping her race, while fully realizing their limitations and guiding them in ways she knows they will understand. Allowing them the belief that a lot of this is their own ideas so as that they more easily accept them. Showing as well that she really is doing this for the good of her people, not her own glory. Methinks some ruler has been getting some lessons from a certain other rather manipulative at times but always for her subjects own good ruler. 
Prompt- Well, I could fault it on the technicality that Ember is the Dragon Lord now, not a Princess. 
But still, it work well and is great seeing a fic take on Equiss' newest ruler. As for 'madness' as above, an amazing look at how genius really can look like madness. How both are simply in the eye of the beholder.
Overall: Incredible
Also, happy Bugsy? I made it through the entire review of your story without once misusing 'to' or 'too'. :P
When Canterlot Burns, by: SilverShadow2722
This is a thrilling, rather exciting, and potentially deep conclusion to what must surely be an epic of betrayal, madness, war, and loss.
To bad we have no idea about what led up to any of this or saw that story. This is a rather well done (at least the 'revised version') ending for a story, it leaves us the overall path things have gone through. Enough to know what happens. But lacking any real context. Without the why? this is going on, why RD would do this, what was driving her.... it just kind of falls flat. The reader is left spending to much time going "Wait, what the buck? Why did she do that?" to really focus on the story, as well as the lack of that groundwork ruining any real emotional torque this might cause. It's simply to large a shift in characterization, to many things tossed at us, to massive an alteration of both characters and the very foundation of Equestria itself to work without all the buildup and explanation needed. It does a good job of being a great climax to a story, but without the rest of that story to provide the needed context, it simply.. fall flat. I can't hate or really 'dislike' the story as there was clear effort put in, and it is trying. But it simply can't quite do what it's trying to.
Prompt- It made RD a Princess (another 'Wait, what?' moment) and then made her go mad. So it works there. But these are things we really needed to see further explored to truly work.
Overall: Fair
Evil is Easy, Governing is Harder, by: Aragon
Ohhhh boy, and at last we come to, well, the last fic for this review series. Which just happens to be the story that won the contest. Does it stack up as well for me? We'll get into the later. Though I will say, regardless of if I would personally choose this as the best of the contest entries I can certainly understand why this one won.
This is also another hard one to really talk about in detail as it's a fic where seeing it unfold is half the fun. Putting together the pieces, figuring out what is going on simply adds to an already amazing story. A brief reenactment of my thoughts while reading. Okay, ummm, what? Well let's see where this goes. Oh Daring Do fic SWEET! This is just.. surreal and odd.. yet I kind of love it. Seriously story what are you doing? Wait.. waaaaiiit.. ohh, ohhhhh story are you doing what I think you're doing? Please tell me this is what I think it is! Oh shit.. it is, alright story, very well pla.... wait... Oh.. OHHHHH shit, did not see that coming and, wow that is even more amazing then I thought!
This fic not only gave us the 'Madness and genius are closer to each other then they are to anything in between', 'Reality is shaped like a horseshoe' stuff I've been using this review. But makes it work OH so good. Giving that bit right at the start, actually giving away the entire plot more or less, yet in a way that you don't quite notice till you go back and examine things with full knowledge. The story is replete with this. Little things that, just don't quite add up. That feel just a little 'hmmmmmm'. Yet each turning out to be because there was another story going on under the one we were seeing. Little hints of what is really going on here. It engineers things to lay out exactly what is going on, while distracting you with hammy Evil Overlord Celestia trying and failing at delivering villainous quips, whip bondage Luna, and barely able to avoid a self inflicted concussion caused by excessive facehoofing Daring Do. So that the bits are easy to miss, yet serve to make everything make so much sense in the end.
Though, there are some potential sticking points with the story. For one, it does require a certain mindset to get into the story. It's an Aragon story after all. Meaning things have.. their own unique little twist. Characters are played up a bit. Pushed a few steps along the path of absurdity. There is a very much a 'just enjoy it' feeling to things. More concerned with being fun and funny then anything else. So when compared to how the characters act in canon, it can be just a bit jaring. Feel a little out of place. Yet it works very well. It's the type of story that, just expects you to not take things so seriously, without fully abandoning seriousness entirely. Still having a grounding in being rational and having a really solid internal logic. But letting the characters simply be over the top and ridiculous about it at the same time. To contrast, there is one other story in the contest entries that claimed to be "Done in the style of Aragon" namely An Apple A Day AKA the one story in this whole series I just out right hated reading and feel is just a flat out bad story. It likewise asks people to just not think to hard, to just enjoy the absurdity. But there are two key differences for why that fails, while this works. First, despite being absurd in many ways and just having fun. This story nonetheless still has a solid, rational logic to it. There is a method to the madness. There is a solid reasoning behind actions. Versus Apple where it was nothing but jokes at how pathetically useless Celestia is no matter how little any of it made sense, even in context. Second, and more importantly, this style, his type of writing, it is about having fun with the characters. Versus the other story where the focus was on making fun of them. It's why this story works so damn well. Yeah it makes the characters a bit over the top, but it's all in the name of fun, and there is still a clear respect for them. Being able to walk that line, be absurd yet meaningful. Over the top, yet still hold to a rather well done core of logic. Absurd yet grounded at the same time. All while being so, damn, hilariously entertaining is why (along with plot reasons I don't want to spoil) I can fully see why this story won.
Character wise.. my only real iffy point is some aspects of Luna. Luna as a whole as just freaking BRILLIANT and I loved her, but the whole her not being in on this and really that ready to do stuff like this and go evil.. it was funny, but a tiny little tiphoof step over the line for me. As was her lamentations about slavery being abolished and how she fails to actually see why slavery is wrong. Just blaming 'politics'. It works for the story but, can't say I was happy with those points. But those are pretty much the only thing I'd have to say in criticism for the story, and they are minor and do not detract from the shear, raw, intense, and amazing FUN that was reading this thing.
So yeah, a very well constructed story, mixing action, suspense, bringing in Daring Do, keeping her and the audience guessing, adding more and more complexity, all while being what I do have to admit is pretty much the single most flat out entertaining to read story in the contest. Yeah I can fully see why this story won the prize. If I had to pick one bit from the official contest winner post that sums up how I feel about the story it would be this.
by the laughs-per-minute gauge of comedy nobody else even came close. This is a goddamn symphony of excess and I love it.
So yeah, if I were judging just on pure entertainment value alone. Simply on how much damn FUN! The story was, how much it had be smiling, giggling, laughing, facepalmng, and the left in shear rapt 'Oh fuck yeah this is amazing!' This story really does win hooves down and I fully understand why it took the top spot. An honor it very much does deserve. But, I did set a rather narrow place where I felt it would win, as to outside that? Gimme a bit.
Prompt-Once more, Celestia proves the best go to for a Princess, and sets the standard. Looking over the totals, she has by far the most fics about her. Six (Seven if you count Princessable Celestia). Next up is a tie between Luna and Flurry Heart at four each. So yeah, can't go wrong with this for showing off a Princess. As to 'Madness' well... this is a brilliant use of that, the entire idea of "Reality is shaped like a horseshoe" bit was genius and so perfect. The story makes amazing use of it. Showing to great effect just how close those two concepts, genius and madness, can really be.
Overall: Exemplary
So, verdict overall? Well, first off, let me just say how AMAZING doing this has been. Not only did I get to read a lot of stories that were simply phenomenal that I likely would have missed, but all the feedback and support and what not has been amazing, so thank you all. And a major thank you to FOME for sponsoring this. It truly was an amazing set of fics.
The quality here really is incredible. Out of 37 stories, there were only two that I outright disliked and would rather not have read at all. Several more that had promise, some good ideas, but simply failed to really work. Didn't quite do what they could. Great attempts, A for effort, but.. just not quite. Yet so so many that were simply stunning. So well crafted, evocative, entertaining, thought provoking. It is staggering just how much skill, creativity, drive, and wonderful ideas this fandom can create. And this was just the smallest, tiniest subset of it. So yeah I thoroughly enjoyed reading these for this, and even more doing the reviews.
Now, as to final rankings... I find myself having a bit of an issue. Namely with Evil is Easy. It won the official contest, am I giving it a bit of boost to agree with that if I call it the best? Or, am I not but thinking I might be and so underplaying it as an over correction when it really would have 'won' by my ranking anyway? As I said, as far as pure entertainment value it wins. No contest. But as to the rest? Writing, depth, emotions. As to being a grand story, something that adds richness to the tapestry of Pony just by existing? As a story that truly explores the ideas of this contest and it's category? In all those, it is up there for sure, but the best? With this many entries to choose from.. I really don't know and do not envy the official judges having to make that call. But for all the uncertainty as to if my view is being influenced by the official winner posting, I'm going to call this section a tie between Evil is easy and Ember, Hoardsmelter. Both play so well with the idea of madness and genius all being a matter of how you look at it. Have amazing ideas behind them, and were a real thrill to read.
As to the contest as a whole... I really cannot pick just one. Hence the categories. But, we had ~40 fics, so instead I'll give you the four I'd pick for the best. The highest 10% of the contest entries. (close enough at least to 10%). In order of when I reviewed them to prevent having to pick that way either.
And a Sky Full of Stars: Amazing world building, intense action, just an all around epic story of epicness. I am so glad Novel is planning to go back to this world and create more stories set in it, further expanding and explaining it. Exploring it. Since my only issue with the story was just how much more it could have done with all of the amazing setting it created.
Waxing Gibbous: Wins just on shear amazing construction. On being written with a near Pratchett level of simplistic depth. Of being direct, to the point, very clearly worded. And yet through the specific word choices, through the way it's said, the context, the shear totality of it having far more depth then it seems anything as simple as the word 'The' should. All while telling a very interesting take on something from the show and giving it a little twist all it's own.
Ember, Hoardsmelter: Just went into this above, but again an amazing take on the concept that really uses how madness is in the eye of he beholder, and actually makes good use of Garble. Expansion on Ember, but doing so obliquely through the lens of an idiot. Also, it turns the Dragons into MLP versions of the Ferengi, that is too ridiculously awesome to not love. One of two amazing entry winners for it's category. did I do the to, too, two right enough for you this time?
Evil is easy, Governing is harder: Any surprises there? Went into all of this, but yes, this story really did deserve the win and is just so damn enterting, fun, and amazing. I'm running out of ways to say that.
So, again, thank you all for your support with this, glad you enjoyed the reviews so much, and I should have more coming soon. 
Nice to see that you enjoyed my second story. I did want to go with Survivor Sunset as prompt, but sadly it was claimed just a day or two before I finished my first story, so I took the second option.
To answer the question (I think) you had about why Sunset is like this: Going through the portal with the whole temporal mess and everything else in full effect merged her with both Demon Sunset (EQG) and Daydream Shimmer (Friendship Games), two turning points in her life that were pretty much destined to be, but didn't actually happen in this timeline. They get less screentime in the latter half because Sunset has gotten used to them, so she doesn't write as much about them in the journal for the 'important' things.
As for Luna becoming a thestral... it was a neat idea and I found a (to me) plausible way to explain it. The more important reason, though, is that having her go feral was really the best of three options; the other two being either her still being Nightmare Moon, making it almost impossible for Sunset to make friends with her, or her being normal Luna, which would have taken a lot of conflict and suspense out of the story because I didn't have a reason why she would only turn up that late then.
4521260 Well that explains that.
Daydream and Demon.. ehh it get's a bit to much into 'fixed destiny' for me and I don't like that, but it serves well as simply being two innate sides of herself. And it does makes sense she'd just, not write about them as they got more normal for her.
Luna becoming a batpony was cool, my issues was not that, and it worked well enough, it was her acting like Flutterbat, who was not a normal batpony. When the explanation for Luna being like this was her creating the batpony, who are not what Flutterbat was.
Overall it was a lot of ideas that made sense, and it was well done just, AH-HA good way to put it! The individual pieces were great, but they came together into something only equal to the sum of their parts. Rather then having some galvanizing agent that made them stronger then the sum alone.
W— Wow. That is some very high praise.
Thanks!
I'm glad you picked up on all that sort-of-in-the-background stuff I put into the fic, and into the world it's set in. That sort of response is among my favorite kinds. : 3 And I also appreciate that your one use of the word "too" in the parts relating to me and my entry was, indeed, correct. The other typos are easily forgiven. : P
Grats again to Aragon. He may not be the King of Gondor, but I would agree that he was the king of this contest.
4521634 Well, that fic earned it. Both yours and his.
And yeah the way those things were in the background worked the best. Doubly so given all of this was from Garbles POV, and of course he wouldn't notice them. See only what he wanted to see. It really is a great representation of sadly all to real mindset. And shows just how damn SMART Ember really is. Able to set things up subtly enough to trick even ones like Garble into ending up the way she wants them. So well done.
Glad you enjoyed these reviews, hopefully have another major one up soon, and been really fun talking to ya about the fics.
4521661
It had irked me since "Gauntlet of Fire" aired that people would complain about Ember's vaunted cleverness being an informed attribute, rather than one that was properly displayed. My personal opinion is that her definition of subtlety at the time was similar to the Girl Genius Jägermonsters' definition, but I decided that I wanted to show people a dragon being clever, and make sure they noticed. That is to say, I was going to make her take her subtlety, and beat them over the head with it.
4521749 To be fair, she was said to be smarter then the other dragons.. that was pretty well shown just through how DUMB they were. I never got the impression we were supposed to see her as some Twilight level genius, just competent and intelligent. But we DO see her being smart, the thing is, it's her being smart, simply by doing the smart thing that people assume should be the default, not getting how it's not for Dragons. Like seeing the logic behind Spike's offer to team up, seeing his points and able to put aside her own ideas for ones that make more sense. Able to accept that Garble NOT getting the scepter was better then her getting it, so hold him back while Spike gets it. Making a pretty well done disguise. So yeah, it did show her being smart. Just, not Twilight level super genius, which she was never supposed to be. Her 'cleverness' was more due to her being one of the few dragons that was actually competent.