Fic recs, May 28th! · 5:36pm May 28th, 2018
After two solid months of continual review blogs followed by a week of vs. posts, it's maybe no surprise I haven't read anything lately. I mean, you'd think being sick for a week would give me lots of time to read, but noooo, I was just playing Mega Man! >:B Anyway, both minifics and news have been piling up as they do, so have a little of both!
Winged T. Spears has done a reading of Minds Eye's J'accuse! Dr. Wolf has redone his reading of Anonymous Pegasus's Why Pinkie Pie Smiles as a "full movie". The original was the first of his readings I ever heard!
My newest reading is horizon's This Is Not an Adventure Clyde Adventure: A Story About Twilight Sparkle, featuring actual, for-real ShadowOfCygnus as the footnotes!
H: 4 R: 14 C: 6 V: 0 N: 0
The Blue and the Dim and the Dark by Cold in Gardez
Genre: Shipping
In many ways, this is the bog-standardiest of standard shipfics. Rarity makes a dress to tell somepony (never revealed!) she loves her, but gets cold hooves at the last moment. But, given it was written by Cold in Gardez, it's about the pinnacle that this particular scenario can possibly reach. Just don't expect any resolution.
Recommended for Shippers
Gangs of Manehattan by Esle Ynopemos
Genre: Action Comedy
Babs Seed's attempt to start a new branch of the Cutie Mark Crusaders goes awry.
This is hilarious. What a perfectly marvelous way to draw comedy out of Babs's character and situation. :D
Highly Recommended
Title by Esle Ynopemos
Reading by Illya Leonov
Genre: Surrealist Romance
This is marvelous in entirely different ways from the last one. I can't really describe this, save that it has a clear if convoluted internal logic that's really the draw, and I've never read anything quite like it.
Highly Recommended
Pinkie Ships It by Esle Ynopemos
Genre: Rom-Com
This is about the daftest way to get two ponies together I have ever seen. XD You'll be hard pressed to find a funner story about pirates, though!
Recommended
Horror Week, part 6: Twilight Sparkle by Nonagon
Genre: Psychological Horror
Huh. Not all of these have been effective, but this one actually kind of works. I think this is a good example of how to get a lot out of a tiny wordcount.
Recommended
Dream by FuzzyFurvert
Sequel to Wet Pony Dreams
Genre: Shipping
Luna investigates Twilight's dream diary.
I haven't read the prequels (neither is finished), but there's enough info in the A/N that I felt confident enough to forge ahead (though I'll complain it spoils the twist). Still, this is neat. Won't appeal to anyone not interested in the ship, but it's got a fun narrative gimmick I haven't seen before.
Recommended for Shippers
The Last One by HoofAndQuill
Genre: Historical
Celestia and her sister are as prepared as they'll ever be to face him.
It's a little explainy, but the centerpiece here is a really neat reason for how Celestia and Luna became alicorns. Again, something I don't think I've ever seen before. Otherwise, solid historical tract with, yes, a dark ending.
Recommended
Roundabout Route by FanOfMostEverything
Genre: Dark
I kind of get this? I think the real answer lies in the explanation below the Magic card. The real issue I had was that this is just so vague about everything. We don't know who the narrator is, he gets trained in a town without a name… The only real concrete idea is that he's afraid of Celestia, which is almost enough to carry the whole piece. It's interesting, at least.
Recommended as Light Reading
Dr. Roentgen Steed by Admiral Biscuit
Reading by ShadowOfCygnus
Genre: Comedy
This isn't quite a feghoot; the joke isn't based on puns, but something else entirely. It's still got that feel to it, what with the world-renowned doctor and all the secrecy in the buildup. And goddammit, it's funny. XD
Recommended
Princessence by AugieDog
Genre: Poem
Sometimes, I just smile and nod at these poems, because I remain dazzled by Augie's mastery of so many forms. This time, I at least picked up the gist by the halfway point and, well, it's princess angst. But it's good princess angst, because it's good poetry.
Recommended
Black Isn't Your Color by Silvernis
Genre: Sad
This starts off looking like it's going to be a comedy, with Rarity trying on dress after dress, all of them black, before some kind of thing. And then you find out what the thing. And why she's wasting so much time trying on dresses. I was not prepared for that gut-punch.
Recommended
Harmony by Bombastic Bookpony
Genre: Rom-Com
Twilight and Pinkie might need a little help naming their child…
This was amusing. I am amused. :) If you're not too interested in the ship, this is mostly just the ponies riffing on each others' names, so there's plenty of comedy to go around.
Recommended
And Rohan Shall Answer by KingMoriarty
Genre: EQG/AU
The slash is in that tag because, while this comes after Legend of Everfree in EQG continuity, it's Equestria that's really, really different. And we only see a tiny bit of just how different it is, but KingMoriarty is able to make the most of it. And while the EQG side of the plot is all about global unrest caused by the perceived threat of magic turning into assured mutual destruction, where this actually ends is on a calm personal moment between unquenchable badass portal-warrior Rainbow Dash and scared-shitless teenage superhero Rainbow Dash, and I couldn't ask for anything better. :D
Highly Recommended
Hitting the Jackpot by ObabScribbler
Genre: Comedy
Being the insufferable gigantic Limestone fan I am, I loved this. Scribbler made the most out of her personality; just about everything she says is golden. There's no actual shipping, really, just a lot of Pinkie trying to ship ponies, and a "compromised situation" end note. So, lots of fun for everyone!
Recommended
Mass Squade Balloon by SirNotAppearingInThisFic
Genre: Comedy
This is basically The Great Ponyville Snowball Fight, but with water balloons, so it's good, clean fun for the whole family to enjoy. I liked seeing the Crusaders working with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, since, y'know, they're all supposed to be friends now. And of course, seeing the gobbledygook that SNAITF had to build a story out of is always the right way to end one of these.
Recommended
"Just Sit Here and Look Calm. I'll Be Back in Fifteen Minutes." by GroaningGreyAgony
Genre: Comedy
This is really short, and though it doesn't overstay its welcome, it's not super-hilarious, either. I mean, the story is basically told in the images included with it, alongside a single joke about what Celestia's doing. Still amusing, I guess.
Recommended for Laughs
Plan B by Georg
Sequel to Bowled Over
Genre: Light Comedy
It's been a while since I read Bowled Over, but I think this is a somewhat amusing followup to it. I mean, I'm pretty sure that story was all about epiphanies couched in mundanity, so sometimes a bowl is just a bowl.
Recommended as Light Reading
No, We're Outta Bear Claws! by KwirkyJ
Genre: Comedy
The joke here revolves around something Rarity has to spell out for Pony Joe, so it doesn't land as heavily as it could, but it's well written, and I have to give major, major points for the title.
Recommended
Anagnorisis by Sharp Spark
Genre: What
It will be helpful to the reader to Google the meaning of the title, for one. For two… wow, what. A clever narrative gimmick that sends us through a series of ever-changing plots until shit gets weird. You'll never feel like you quite know what's going on. With anything.
Recommended
Tough Love by Pascoite
Genre: Dark
This is a short but cutting piece about who might have visited Luna on the moon. It's quite good, and that should be all you need to know.
Recommended
Discography by FanOfMostEverything
Genre: Comedy
Twilight tries to get to the bottom of the mystery that is DJ PON-3.
Oh man, you will not see this one coming. This goes to some crazy places, and brings with it a ton of fascinating world-building. All done in the name of comedy!
Highly Recommended
Learning to Fly Again by Abecedarian
Genre: Immortality Angst
Okay, don't go running, this is actually pretty impressive. For starters, it's about Rainbow Dash. For seconds, it's extremely humanizing. And for thirds, it's uplifting. I suppose that last bit is kind of a 50/50 chance with these, but I'd rather see it than not.
Recommended
Just Another Day in Equestria by 2Merr
Mature: Sex
Genre: AiE/Sexual Comedy
This is like that one story I wrote where I went to Equestria and everyone was a dick to me, except in this case, there's sex and Twilight's a dick to Anon. I had a good time. :D
Recommended If You Like Sexual Comedy
Anonymity by Shrink Laureate
Genre: Comedy
Reading these two stories in a row was trippy. But, despite initial appearances, this is not an Anon in Equestria fic. I won't spoil it for you, suffice to say it's funny and clever. (And, unless I miss my guess, based off Carabas's Palaververse!)
Recommended
Now my next review segment is just going to be short stories you already reviewed. :B
This is Not an Adventure Clyde Story has always amused me. Glad to see it get a reading!
4871754
Wow you posted your comment 2 seconds later than me! Anyway you should check out the adventure Clyde tumblr too.
2merr is an excellent author. Good to seem him in the list :)
4871845
That collection has been funny as shit so far. :D Because that's not the first one I've read!
You know, seeing you go through Unhinged and so far liking – to some extent – every single one of the entries (kudos for the comments) is one of the things that makes me glad I wrote them and want to write more. I really should write some more...
... and maybe someday I'll make a blog post (probably as I write a story) detailing how I turn a card into one of those entries.
4871910
I always assumed you had some crazed Markov chain-based algorithm doing it for you. :B
"Title" is marvelous. It's like a bastard child of Horizon's "Quiet Boy and Moon Horse" and "Thou Goddess" that has been a changeling all along.