Paul's Thursday Reviews CLXV · 9:02pm Jun 20th, 2019
I really don’t think this is the right way to go about it, but I’m not the one running the show, so I’ll just get the copypasta over and done with:
Win $100 for Writing a Pun!
Do you like puns? Then you’ll love feghoots! A feghoot is a story that leads up to and ends with a horrible pun. And I love them so much that I'm going to be judging them for the FimFiction Feghoot Festival! Write one and submit it by July 14th, and you could win one of over $180 of prizes! All the details are here: https://www.fimfiction.net/group/214393/fimfiction-feghoot-festival
And join our Feghoot Discord Server too! https://discord.gg/CtkMPSu
Now that the soulless, impersonal corporate/government announcement is done, let me do this the right way. Yes, I am going to be a judge for Super Trampoline’s Feghootful Feghootenanny. And, no, I don’t love them. Anyone who follows my blog for a while will know that they’re not ‘my kind’ of fiction. But I can still recognize the skill that goes into making them work, and I have respect for authors who can pull them off well (not least because I lack that skill). So I’m actually looking forward to this!
Also, I totes don’t blame ST for forgetting to include me in the original judges lists. Bureaucratic errors are a thing, after all.
Second topic for the day: The Royal Canterlot Library is going to do a Bronycon panel on the greatest stories ever released on FIMFiction. But they aren’t going to pick it themselves. No, you get to do that, by recommending and voting on stories in this thread. Just make sure to read the rules first, they’re kinda important.
This month has been crummy for my writing aspirations, and I’m behind on where I need to be with my Bronycon Bookstore situation. Still, with any luck I can have the problem resolved within the next week for the latter, and I no longer need to visit home in Louisiana every weekend, so my writing may start to pick up again. I’ve already managed two days in a row of 2k+ words and am finally nearing the conclusion of Chapter 5 of Famous Last Words, though I anticipate another 6-10k words left to go for it. I have no doubt now that I’ll need to go back and revise some early parts, as the plot of that chapter shifted wildly on at least four different occasions while I was writing it.
But with that coming along nicely, I now have to decide what short story I want to write. I have no less than three different ideas right now, all of which are sequels to existing short stories in my library. All of them are of roughly equal interest to me. It’s tempting to ask the general public what it would like to see, but at the same time I’d like to surprise people. Each of these stories have had clamorings for a sequel, after all.
Decisions, decisions. Let’s get to the reviews, shall we?
Stories for This Week:
The Stars Never Change by Overload
Can I Fly? by Evowizard25
It's Not the Wings by Tallinu
Fallout Equestria: Day of Cabbages and Turnips by Nyerguds
The Instruments of Our Surrender by Cold in Gardez
Chaos Theory by Lucky Seven
Goodbye: A Letter from a Not-so-dead Man by TheKissoftheVoid
Fuck! by ocalhoun
"You Do Know She Wrestles Bears, Right?" by -TGM-
Night Shift - Sacred and Wild by Mystic Mind
Total Word Count: 87,565
Rating System
Why Haven't You Read These Yet?: 0
Pretty Good: 3
Worth It: 6
Needs Work: 1
None: 0
The Stars Never Change
3,372 Words
By Overload
A young changeling scout discovers Trixie alone in the Frozen North, half-dead and unconscious. She is a pony, an enemy, and yet he can’t bring himself to leave her to her fate. So he does the only thing he can think of: bring her back to the Hive.
This is a bit of sadfic, surprisingly strong in emotional strength considering it’s length and format. It’s a story about Trixie becoming a new mare, and about a changeling who exemplifies doing the right thing without believing that others would ever do the same. At once touching and also a little disappointing, the story is, to me, full of heart.
The one and only thing I question is Chrysalis. Why did she make the decision she did? Was it because she is not the monster she is often thought to be? Or perhaps she knew what the outcome of her decision would be, and made it so that this unnamed changeling could prove an example to others. But if that were true, why take the phenomenal risk? I wish we could have seen a little more of her, just to get a better picture of her thoughts. But then, she’s not the star of this story. Even Trixie is not the star of this story. The star doesn’t even have a name… which makes this all the more saddening.
Very well done, Overload.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good!
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
The Night Rages On — WHYRTY?
Can I Fly?
1,532 Words
By Evowizard25
Apparently, Evowizard25 noticed how Starlight was levitating herself so easily in the Season 5 finale and decided to analyse the concept. The result is this story in which filly Twilight asks Celestia the titular question.
There’s really only two things of importance about this story: 1) that it involves the clickbait that is filly Twilight, and 2) it centers on Celestia’s lecture on the basic mechanics of unicorn flight. Oh, and somehow Celestia knew Chrysalis when the changeling queen was a child. That’s not a big point of the story, merely an offhand mention, but it still raised my eyebrows.
Not a bad story on the whole. It’s not the first I’ve seen to take on this topic, but it is the first to make the topic its primary purpose. That said, we all know the real reason we’re here, and that’s clickbait filly Twilight. I have no complaints against this.
Bookshelf: Worth It
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
New Author!
It's Not the Wings
6,144 Words
By Tallinu
Princess Twilight bumps into Applejack at one of Pinkie’s parties and decides it is finally time to talk to the earth pony about something that’s been bothering her for a while.
When I first saw this story, I honestly thought it was going to have something to do with Twilight misinterpreting her newfound public popularity with her wings, i.e. “I wish these things didn’t make me stand out so much.” What I got instead is something far more interesting: Twilight has never experienced earth pony magic before, and thus has no idea what to make of it or how it works. It really says something about the public perception of earth ponies that this is the first time I’ve seen anyone directly address this topic.
On the one hand, this story is little more than a rambling conversation, full of tangents and jokes and non-consequential reminders. On the other, that makes the whole thing feel pleasantly natural. It’s not the most… ‘story’ way of writing the concept, but whether that works for or against it will be up to the individual reader. It has some interesting ideas and could lead to a fascinating AJ/Twilight friendshipping tale if it were to be expanded upon.
A curious story, but it seems to struggle with pacing and overall definition. Still, a worthwhile piece for bringing up a topic so rarely addressed in stories involving Twilight’s ascent.
Bookshelf: Worth It
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
New Author!
Fallout Equestria: Day of Cabbages and Turnips
2,758 Words
By Nyerguds
Most ponies know it as the Day of Sunshine and Rainbows: Littlepip infiltrated the Single Pegasus Project and removed the cloud cover that had barred ponies on the ground from the sunlight. But there are others who know it as the Day of Cabbages and Turnips. This is why.
My only thought when it was over was “why didn’t I think of that?” For this story, the author saw how Littlepip essentially destroyed all cloud cover across the entirety of Equestria in the blink of an eye and realized what this meant for the Pegasus Enclave. Imagine a world where everything is made of or held aloft by clouds: the houses, the streets, the farmland, the tools, everything. Now imagine that every single cloud no longer exists to do that holding up part.
This story treats the scenario with a half-seriousness that works in its favor. The characters, for what little time we get to enjoy them, are interesting and amusing, and the situation is quite entertaining. I don’t hold it against the author at all for taking this approach. That being said…
What really interests me is the meaning inherent in these events, a meaning that I’ve not seen any story directly address, and in fact every FO:E story I’ve read so far has completely ignored as if it never happened. That being: the Enclave is over. They’ve lost everything. Oh, sure , they can rebuild clouds, and that’s fine. But all their crops to feed an entire race just got destroyed. All their infrastructure, gone. Any weapons and tools that weren’t on Vertibucks and the like just fell to the surface. Oh, yes, they can fly down and retrieve what didn’t break, but it won’t take long for the surface ponies to take the opportunity to grab what they can, and in the bedlam and anarchy the Enclave will never be able to get the majority of their things back without serious cost.
This situation redefines everything we know about the world of FO:E. The possibilities are huge, going far beyond what I’ve already laid out above. And yet, somehow, I’ve not seen a single person take advantage of what Nyerguds has just so casually pointed out. That’s disappointing.
But it has no effect on my appreciation of this story, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It’s well paced, well written, and well defined. The characters are entertaining, and the sheer impact of the concept has my metaphorical pony ears perking. I doubt Nyerguds had any intention of anyone taking this in the direction I have, but that doesn’t make me ungrateful for what it has revealed.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good!
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
New Author!
The Instruments of Our Surrender
7,989 Words
By Cold in Gardez
In the midst of Tirek’s attack on Dodge Junction, Briar Thatch and his childhood friend Dandelion make their escape.
CiG has a tendency to write about nothing that a typical author would, which is one of his major strengths in my eyes. With a title like that, I would have expected this to be about the nature of Twilight’s surrendering Equestria to Tirek and perhaps a debate over whether that was the right move. CiG doesn’t disappoint (in a manner of speaking) by writing a story that has nothing to do with this subject at all: Tirek’s attack is only the backdrop of the story, not the point.
Ultimately, the story is about Briar Thatch and his relationship with Dandelion. And probably some deeper elements, which I’m too thick-headed to recognize. There were things that happened I found questionable, such as what the significance was of Dandelion leaving behind a precious item that she literally could have picked up and carried with her within two seconds with zero consequences despite how important it was to her. Or why is it Dandelion is established as having an older sister but there is never any mention of worrying about her fate and whereabouts.
But these are minor niggles. The story is a simple romance that, in the context of the ponies’ perspectives, takes way too long to develop and requires a catastrophe to see concluded. Seriously, it took him twelve years? Somepony clock this guy on the back of the head for me.
If I’m honest, I’d have to say this is my least favorite of the stories I’ve read by CiG so far. The only thing differentiating it from any other romance is the setting. That being said, it’s still an excellent piece, nicely paced and with a strong show vs. tell balance. It could also, arguably, be utilized as a showcase for what’s important in a narrative. It would be so easy for most authors to take a story about a young couple and put it aside in favor of hyping up Tirek and/or the Pony Ball Z fight at the end. CiG is more mature than that, demonstrating to us how to ensure that a story keeps its focus even with potentially more interesting distractions in the immediate vicinity.
Another solid piece. I do so enjoy discovering more works by this author.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
All the Mortal Remains — WHYRTY?
For Whom We Are Hungry — WHYRTY?
Babel — Pretty Good
The Destruction of the Self — Pretty Good
The First Light of Dawn — Pretty Good
Chaos Theory
12,779 Words
By Lucky Seven
When you’re a statue, you get a lot of time to think. And Discord’s thoughts are centered on one thing: Twilight Sparkle. Not thoughts of revenge, mind you, but a certain curiosity. And maybe a bit of guilt.
When I started this, I was really hoping it would involve Twilight visiting Discord as a statue and him gradually coming to appreciate her visits. When the story begins, that’s exactly what it looks like is happening.
Then Discord is freed in a profoundly stupid way and he spends the next 24 hours falling in love with Twilight and vice versa. Epic fail, author.
How is it that Celestia on two separate occasions warns off ponies about arguing around Discord because it risks freeing him only to turn around and do it herself by arguing with Luna in front of him? There is so much wrong with this idea it defies incredulity. If it’s really that easy for Discord to escape his prison, how in his own name did they manage to keep him a statue for 1,000 years?
Then we have the absurdity of Twilight, who has been readily shown to hate everything Discord stands for and even in modern seasons tends to be more frustrated by his existence than anything else, falling in love with him within hours of him being freed. And why? Because he called her ‘cute’ and tries to be a good friend. Yeah, no, that’s not how this works. You want to make this relationship believable? You give it a few months at least to develop.
Then there’s the writing, which suffers from a lot of oddities. The narrative is supposedly from Discord’s perspective, but it shifts in format frequently and in confusing ways. The vast majority of the dialogue is talking heads with frequent moments of “who the heck is speaking right now?” It’s borderline impossible to get a bead on the emotional state of anything being said, even when there is narrative around the conversations, and when it does come it’s almost universally telly in nature.
All that said, I must point out that this story was written long before the last story I read by this author. Yes, the quality is shoddy, but having read Freak Like Me I know Lucky Seven is improving significantly. From that perspective, I’m rather pleased with what I’m seeing. I mean, sure, this story won’t rate well in my lineup, but just knowing that an author has taken steps to right old wrongs is satisfying. Now I intend to read something more recent and see if that progress has continued.
Bookshelf: Needs Work
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
Freak Like Me — Worth It
Goodbye: A Letter from a Not-so-dead Man
5,148 Words
By TheKissoftheVoid
Bowan Dove writes a letter to his family for the sake of closure.
This got off to a rough start when we find addresses redacted as if this entire letter is some top-secret document in a government archive, only to follow with nothing else being redacted. The mixed messages threw me off wildly and left me wondering about just what I’d gotten into.
Luckily, things go smoothly afterwards. This ends up being a long, rambling letter (I can’t imagine the size of the scroll he used) to the author’s family, offering them some semblance of comfort and assuring them that he isn’t dead before going on and on about the new life he’s built in a new place. I’m honestly not sure how to feel about this overall. On the one hand, the conditions are typical and nothing Bowan talks about is particularly new. On the other, handling it entirely in a letter format is a bit more original than what we usually see.
I came away from this with mixed feelings. I do feel like it’s well written and achieves its goal, but at the same time it couldn’t hold my interest. I’m not sure if this is the fault of the author or myself. In the end, I can only recommend you try it for yourself and form your own conclusions.
Bookshelf: Worth It
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
The Nightmare Omen — Pretty Good
Rarity has only one goal: get to the talent show to see Sweetie Belle perform. If only the entire world weren’t conspiring to prevent that.
This is a series of unfortunate events, each one ratcheting up poor Rarity’s frustration as she struggles to get to her little sister’s talent show on time. From flying oatmeal to the most annoying and time-wasting ponies in existence, nothing ever seems to go right. We’ve all had those days, yeah?
The only problem I have with this one is that ocalhoun played it straight. If this is meant to be a comedy, why isn’t it written like one? There’s no witty narrative, no playful commentary at Rarity’s expense. It’s just ‘bad things happen’, with no effort made to highlight the humor in said bad things. As such, you have no choice but to take the amusement from the circumstances alone. I imagine from the upvote ratio that a lot of people are okay with this, but for me it didn’t pull it off.
Still, not a bad story in the overall, provided you go into it with the proper expectations.
Bookshelf: Worth It
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
A Mother's Love Never Dies — Pretty Good
A Rose For Luna — Pretty Good
One In A Million — Pretty Good
Unicorn Horns Are Made Of Candy — Pretty Good
Get Clean! — Worth It
"You Do Know She Wrestles Bears, Right?"
5,825 Words
By -TGM-
After losing to Applejack in a hoof wrestling match, a grumpy Rainbow declares that AJ will never be as strong as Fluttershy. At Applejack’s disbelief, Rainbow points out a few things to back her argument, and Applejack finds them strangely believable. She decides she has no choice but to investigate the matter and see if Fluttershy really is as strong as Rainbow says.
Given that the protagonist of this one is Applejack, I fully expected her to take the direct route in trying to ascertain Fluttershy’s strength, i.e. asking her directly for a demonstration. Instead the story revolves around AJ dishonestly seeking roundabout methods ranging from farm work, stuck jars, and ghosts. It’s not exactly in-character for her, at least not as I see the given situation. She’s not trying to trick casino tycoons or get Spike to stop helping her, she’s just trying to learn something about a friend.
But if you can get past that, this is still quite the entertaining bit of comedy. Poor Applejack goes through all sorts of nonsense to get her much-desired information, all of which backfire or fail (sometimes spectacularly). It’s a bunch of silliness for silliness’s sake, and I could easily see an episode made from this. In fact, I suspect -TGM- wrote this with that in mind, given where the breaks are.
If you want some show-like amusement and don’t mind Applejack being a little not Applejack, then there’s no reason not to read this one.
Bookshelf: Worth It
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
Wither — WHYRTY?
Sleeping Your Way to the Top — Pretty Good
Six Followed by Nine — Worth It
Night Shift - Sacred and Wild
39,922 Words
By Mystic Mind
Requested by Mystic Mind
Alternative Title: Timberjack vs. Flutterbat vs. Van Trixing vs. Timberwolves vs. Harpies vs. Werewolves vs. Bugs vs. Plants vs. Ursa Majors vs Secret Agents vs…
This story is meant to be a sequel to JawJoe’s Twilight Sparkle: Night Shift, and was apparently written with JJ’s blessing. When Applejack gets bitten by a werewolf, Trixie recruits the vampiric Fluttershy into helping her find and deal with the farmer’s new form. Little do they know that an ancient enemy of Equestria is behind Applejack’s situation.
I read the first chapter of this story way back when it was first released but incomplete, because the whole Flutterbat vs. Timberjack thing tickles my fancy. Alas, I had to pan it, because it suffered from a ton of issues. Mystic Mind, recalling this, asked me to read the completed story, claiming that numerous upgrades had been made. And, I must acknowledge, that is certainly true. The story simply reads better, despite a number of missing words and an inability to write a paragraph longer than two sentences. A number of my complaints for the first chapter have been addressed, though not all satisfactorily.
The general idea is that Applejack chased Winona into the Everfree, where she got bit by a werewolf. A while later she becomes one herself, waking up in the forest with blood on her lips and a random mare named Ebony informing her of her situation. Oh, but don’t worry, Ebony can teach her to control it! Red flags show up right away; AJ could go to the Night Shift, she could contact Twilight (a known agent of said organization), she could visit Trixie (another known agent) whom she should know is in town. Heck, she could go see Princess Luna, who runs the Night Shift! She has that kind of pull.
But no, she’ll go along with this random stranger who happens to be in the middle of the Everfree, who claims to have personally witnessed AJ’s werewolf encounter, and who is all kinds of shifty. Clearly, Apple hicks aren’t too bright. Granted, it’s later shown that she’s being mind controlled, but that initial startup doesn’t do all that great a job of clarifying that for the reader. Even so, the fact that she is being mind controlled helps to alleviate a lot of Applejack’s extremely uncharacteristic behavior for 90% of this story, including not batting an eye when Ebony murders her so-called friends like it’s nothing.
Then we have Fluttershy, who has a more understandable background for why she is what she is, although I have no idea why Trixie’s potion, which is supposedly to help her control her vampiric impulses, instead reverts her back into Flutterbat (and this is deemed okay). I was largely okay with how Fluttershy and her alter-ego are handled. Ditto for Van Trixing, who is often mercurial in her manner.
But there are still a lot of quirks to this story. For example, I think Mystic Mind really lost control of the focus of this story. It’s supposed to be about Fluttershy and Trixie trying to cure Applejack of her lycanthropy. Why are we fighting a nightmare forest, harpies, timberwolves, and an ursa major (i.e. the go-to monster for every author who wants a ‘too big to die’ opponent to make their characters look badass). Why are we getting an entire chapter featuring a pair of Night Shift agents who play no important role whatsoever in this story, whom we don’t know or care about, and who disappear as soon as the chapter’s fighting is over? Why are certain characters who should know claiming Trixie is not a member of Night Shift only to turn around and say she is a few paragraphs later?
Let’s not forget the story’s complete disregard for combat realism. Flutterbat is so OP that she can be bitten, ripped, beaten, crushed, burned, torn, have her wings mangled, and anything else you can think of and can still fight and perform aerial acrobatics that would make Rainbow Dash proud… at least until the plot mandates she suddenly be weak, that is.
Trixie can suffer severe blood loss but still have enough strength immediately afterwards to run for miles, go one-on-six against a pack of werewolves, and use teleportation magic.
Ebony, a being that has avoided detection and capture despite being wanted by Celestia and Luna since before the Longest Night, somehow lacks the patience and mental fortitude to defeat the much smaller and less experienced Timberjack in a one-on-one duel, and can be killed using the simplest of methods that somehow all the Night Guard of the past 1,000 years, and possibly the princesses themselves, have miraculously been incapable of achieving. No, seriously, the story very specifically points to impatience as the reason for her defeat.
Why is it we’re going through all these details about how the fights are going at various times throughout the story but when the big, climactic showdown between Timberjack and Ebony begins it is summed up as “they brawled”? Yeah. When you tell me later that it was a grueling struggle of a conflict, I don’t recall any of that, because all I saw was “a brawl”.
And all of this when we could have been watching Flutterbat try to subdue the Timberjack so Trixie can pump a cure into the latter. At least that would have given us time for character and relationship growth instead of just Epic Battles of Epicness in the Name of Epic Epicness™.
All that being said…
This is not a story for those seeking something deep, character-driven, or inspiring. This is a story for people who just want a bunch of adventure and combat. If you’re here for explosions and monsters and magic, you’ll probably get a lot out of it. The story was made to be entertaining without requiring much in the way of thought or effort on the part of the readers. Going into this without an eye for the details will serve you well.
It still ranks as the best Flutterbat vs. Timberjack story I’ve read so far, and by a large margin.
Bookshelf: Worth It
Previous stories reviewed for this author:
New Author!
Stories for Next Week:
The Violin Maker's Daughter by Fuzzyfurvert
Dinky vs. the Moon by Dubs Rewatcher
Twilight is a Zombie by Michael Hudson
Rage of Friendship by Ekhidna
Rigid by Rambling Writer
Bluebird by TheCrystalRing
Eternal by Pastel Pony
Painted Jack by adcoon
The Closet Is a Cold Place by Avox
Child of Nightmares and Everfree by Georg
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Your comments on how a character should react to battle damage is one of those things I, and I'm sure many others, struggle to remember when we're trying to get the plot moving along. I went back to a few of my own chapters and slapped my head when I described a character pretty banged up but is then bouncing around like it's no problem by the end.
I guess the only excuse I have for mine is healing magic, bitches!
Interestingly, I reviewed two of these stories in the same blog myself. :)
Good luck with the stories, I'm staying away from that. I might go to the panel though
I've noticed this, too, and I directly addressed it at least once. I think twice, but I can't remember what the other story would be. "Control Freak" maybe? But I definitely took a cut at this in "Until Forever."
Re: Lucky Seven, he's definitely improved. I recently read "The Place I Felt Safest," and it's substantially better than his early stories.
I didn't realize how far ahead you prepare reviews. The result has been spoiled, since I already got a notification of which folder you put "Basking" in, but it's not even in next week's slate, so it's at least 2 weeks off. (I assume I could look in your spreadsheet and see, if I were less lazy.)
Hey there! Thank you for taking the time to review my story Goodbye. It’s been a long time since I looked back on it, and doing so with the benefit of an outside perspective was illuminating.
I don’t have a great deal to say in response, although I did find your comment about the odd, redacted feel of the beginning interesting. The number of characters in those reflect the actual addresses I’d have wanted the letter sent to, but I agree that it appears jarring. I could’ve just made some addresses up, and probably will now that you’ve pointed it out, but at the time I think that it felt too real to me to even think of that, though it be ever so pretentious to say. It was an interesting thing to realize, and I thank you for inspiring that little bit of introspection.
Again, thank you for the review. I appreciate the time and care taken.
I entered ten puns into that contest, hoping to win the bread.
Unfortunately, no pun in ten did.
Having a story that actually talks about Earth Pony magic is rare though I recall an interesting story that involved that in
"Three Magics" Arkensaw Pinkerton
Since you mentioned finding the concept interesting I thought you might want another story with an additional take on the concept.
Thanks for reviewing my story, paul! Great review as always, I'm glad you enjoyed it despite some outliers.
5077311
I'm guilty of making the mistake myself once or twice, I must admit. When you're writing something over the course of days, weeks, or even months, it can be easy to neglect what you did to your character just 2,000 words ago.
5077334
Huh. Must be fate. Faaaaaaate.
5077362
Which brings up the question: has there been any news regarding yours?
5077550 yes! I'll post my panels, unfortunately the longform one did not pass ~_~ which sucks
5077437
When reviews are prepared is determined by my reading schedule, which is filled up based on total wordcount rather than number of stories. If I get a large number of shorter stories on my slate I can end up writing reviews more than a month in advance. In fact, today I expect to write a review for a story that won't be blogged until the 25th of July.
I've also intentionally set things up to put me way ahead in the coming weeks, as there's going to be a two-week period around Bronycon where I won't be reading anything at all for review and wanted those two weeks ready to go while I'm on the road.
5077467
Glad you took it so well! What had me confused was that redacting things suggests some government agency trying to limit what the public knew. But if that was the case, wouldn't there be more for them to redact? Wouldn't they want to hide other things? Where were the signs of blatant government overreach? It just struck me as odd, is all. But you're right, making up a fake address would be a perfectly suitable alternative. You could also say something like "please send to the address visible on the outside of this scroll" or something else like that, so that you don't even have to take that extra step.
5077488
or slow-clap out of respect.
I don't know whether to
5077516
I'm going to count that as a request, since I don't have a Recommended list anymore. Thanks for the suggestion!
5077551
That does, indeed, suck. Guess I better buy myself a ticket after all.
5077554
Both.
Hee, thanks for the review!
In these other stories' defense, I think it's mentioned somewhere in the original story that Littlepip didn't actually destroy all cloud farms; enough to break the Enclave's power, not enough to cause a complete famine.
But for the characters mentioned in this story, that scope wasn't so easy to see. Tinker tried to trace it and saw it was sent to enough places to qualify as a complete catastrophe, but she hardly had time to filter out any specifics on what might've been spared.
Thanks for the review, and the kind words!
Thank you, so very much! I just wish I could write more often, haha! But, if I may recommend a story, perhaps my most recent one? :)