Fic recs, December 14th! · 4:12pm Dec 14th, 2017
Thinking about supporting me? I haven't made any decisions on how you can yet, so instead, why not help WandererD replace his broken and dead car?
Another epilogue! This time for YourBronyGod's She's Only Sleeping. It, uh, ramps up the self-cest and pointless sex while being no less what. c.c
Illya Leonov has done a reading of Tumbleweed's This Is a Clopfic! That I can't link to, because I forgot that story's actually rated Mature despite not being a clopfic! :B Salacious!
Oh god, I've really been putting off the flash fiction this month. D: We've got some adorable romance between a soldier and a dancer, a must-read for anyone in the military; more romance, in a time loop; and some words about necromancy. (Do not use iambic pentameter, as it may attract lesser demons and pedants.)
It's the middle of the month, yet this could very easily be my last review blog for the year. Whatever happens, I'm looking at lowest number of stories reviewed in a year since 2013. My plan right now is, since my audiobook list contains 15 videos, all by Winged T. Spears, to hold off on adding a new reader and instead use Fimfic's reading thingy to go through the scads of stories I've had waiting for editions since at least the middle of the year. But those take time, so we'll see how long it takes to get one out!
H: 2 R: 1 C: 3 V: 0 N: 0
The Point of No Return by ObabScribbler
Reading by Scribbler, et. al.
Genre: Future Fic/Drama
Rainbow Dash visits Ponyville to see her oldest friend. But something's wrong with Dash…
This is a very slow burn story, which may not appeal to everyone, but I sort of figured I knew what it was about going in and found myself quite rewarded by the end. This is a message fic that very clearly gets its point across without sacrificing the core of its characters. Taking place in the future as this does, they're confusingly written at first, but all the seeming inconsistencies just helped reinforce my suspicions about the central "What's eating Rainbow Dash?" mystery. And for all that Dash's situation isn't something I can really see happening in the Equestria we know — worth noting, this was published recently but written in 2015, so current Wonderbolt canon doesn't apply — how she got into it, and the ways she's unable to get out of it are truly couched in her character. Even better, the solution to her problem is equally rooted in her friendship with Fluttershy. This does a great job presenting and exploring its central concept through the lens of Dash and Fluttershy, and while it's maybe not the best story on the site (I like flowery imagery as much as the next guy, but I draw the line at metaphorical bow ties made of snot c.c), I feel like it's the kind of thing everyone should read. It's illustrative of what to do, no matter what side you're on. Be sure to check out the reading as well, especially for the author's note at the end.
Highly Recommended
Fluttershy Wants Them Dinotendies by Ebola-chan Ganbatte
Paid Review for Ebola-chan Ganbatte
Genre: EQG Random Comedy
There is nothing more that Fluttershy wants in life than dinosaur-shaped chicken tenders. Even though she's vegan.
Someone please explain the "tendies" thing to me. <.< I first heard DWK using that word, and it sounds like one of those fun, goofy slang terms used ironically… except I guess people are really into chicken nuggets now? c.c Why? Maybe I'm just old, but I've eaten enough to know that most of them, especially the store-bought ones, are like eating rubbery sawdust. Come on, at least get them from Wendy's. D: Anyway, with all that said, understanding the meme is thankfully not important for this story, and in fact, not understanding it may have added to my enjoyment. If Ebola-chan has a knack for anything, it's taking out-there premises and writing them funny. Most of the humor comes from the over-the-top narrative style, plus jokes like Fluttershy being vegan. This isn't high comedy by any means, but I enjoyed it.
Recommended for Laughs
You're All Cunts! by Eppie Genetic
Reading by Winged T. Spears
Mature
Genre: Random Comedy
Fluttershy has something to say to her friends.
First things first, the only reason this is rated Mature is so the word 'cunt' could appear in the title and cover art uncensored. That's it. That being said, this probably isn't worth turning your filters off for, unless you are one of those people who finds swearing funny. And I'll be honest, I do, especially when it comes from ponies and is explicitly used for comedic purposes. But this is basically vent fic masquerading as a one-joke comedy, and while I did get some laughs out of it, there's not much to recommend.
Recommended Only If You Think Swearing Is Funny
Vantage Point by An Intricate Disguise
Reading by Scarlett Blade
Mature: Sex
Genre: Voyeurism
Rainbow Dash has discovered the perfect spot from which to view Twilight's daily "private study sessions".
This is okay. My main takeaway is that it's cute. Well, actually, I was mostly pondering whether this wasn't short skirts's clop account. I mean, Rainbow's wearing socks and "a little jumper", for crying out loud. And the comments suggest this is someone's alt, but… Anyway, beside the point. This is competent, it's amusing that Dash has inadvertently put herself on Twilight's schedule, but it's just pure clop, and there's no sense reading it if that's not what you're interested in.
Recommended If You Like Clop
Princess Celestia's Private Library by Shrink Laureate
Reading by Winged T. Spears
Genre: Slice of Life
Princess Celestia has a private collection of stories, poems and pictures made of and for her over the last thousand years. It's time to make sure it's preserved.
This is the kind of story that's good enough that I can read it hot on the heels of something like Carousel and still be impressed. It doesn't hurt that it's chock full of things I adore: good poetry; excellently wrought Old English; Celestia being moody and filled with self-doubt ahead of her sister's fated return to Equestria; a character discovering the truth behind things we found out in the very first episode of the show; hell, even a little vexillology. This is a meditation on concepts like what Celestia's motives are, and who she is and needs to be as the sole monarch of Equestria. Plus, the main character has a really unusual profession, I don't think I've seen any stories about printers before. This is just really stellar, I hope everyone checks it out.
Highly Recommended
The Riddle of Origin by FanOfMostEverything
Reading by SporeHarvest
Man, this'll probably be the last reader I review for the year. :O Sorry to say, I couldn't hear him. :/ His background music isn't too loud, but he's very muffled, and his accent doesn't help. I'd be willing to give him another shot if he got better equipment, but for now, I can't use him.
Genre: Comedy
Discord pays a visit to one of his less-successful projects.
This is a short, fun piece built around a ton of Discord-centric world-building. Like, literally, he's building bits of the world here, and the sphinx just so happens to be one of them. There are a lot of comic references — the sphinx's name might be one, but I really hope it isn't, it's just so clever and stupid — but mostly, it just comes straight from season seven, and everyone should get a kick out of it.
Recommended
I can assure you that the sphinx's name is my own original stupidity. I haven't even touched the Legends of Magic series beyond what I've seen on Derpibooru.
Wow. I don't usually disagree so much with you. Despite doing some art for it, Point of No Return is so OoC that I couldn't even finish reading the scene I was doing the art for, let alone the story. It's not as bad as Randbow Dash was, but it's really really not on character at all. Feels very much like someone slapped pony names on to a story about other characters. Which is exactly what it is if you read the A/N.
I mean. It's got a message and it's a pretty important one, but it's not a very good MLP fanfic IMO.
Okay so. Tendies.
Tendies as a word has been around for awhile but hit home really hard during the the 4chan 'good boy points' epidemic.
The short and unoffensive skinny on that is some user (an older gentleman who lived with his mom) posted about how for every good thing he did for his mother (we believe the op had a handicap of some sort), he earned good boy points. They could be spent on things like video games, or his favorite meal' Wendy's Chicken Tendies, extra crispy.
It quickly rocketed out of control and became a very derogatory meme on 4chan about how some 'failures to launch' can act like manchildren, and this could be a desperate mother's last gasp for keeping her son in line. There are all sorts of inversions and perpetuations of the meme that has... Thankfully died. But what really persisted is the word Tendies.
And it's not that Tendies has that bad of a connotation either. It more or less symbolizes a reprieve from adult hood. Some consider getting getting chicken tenders as an adult to be 'immature'. This is especially prevalent in the midwest. So, in my opinion, it more or less stands for more of a comfort and escape.
I fuckin love chicken tendies.
4748595
This was an excellent explanation of the tendies thing. Have a Good Boy Point.
4748595
Flutterpriest I freaking love you you're amazing please never change.
4748595
This is a good post.
For me, chicken nuggets or tenders exist solely as vehicle for filling my body with honey mustard. :B
Best birthday gift. Thank you!
4749086
Happy birthday! :D
Present, thank you so much for your signal-boost!
4749086 A bit late, but happy b-day, Scribbler!
Thanks for the recommendation.