Fic recs, May 2nd: Kerfuffle edition! · 2:48pm May 2nd, 2020
Scribbler is running an auction to help someone in need! You can get a fanfic read by her and a few other awesome fandom VAs!
And Super Trampoline is trying to find a temporary home for a cute doggie! This blog has the details; anyone in the contintenal US can help! (See Estee's blog for extra details if you've never taken care of a dog before.)
So it's been about a year since Rainbow Roadtrip aired, which means it's high time I dove into the Kerfuffle tag and reviewed some stories about newest best pony! :B I just sorted it by complete and rating, and these were the first few, highest-rated Kerfuffle fics on the site. They run the gamut!
And as I intimated last time, the next one of these is going to be Imposing Sovereigns II, finally, and that is going to take a while, so enjoy these stories while you can. :B
H: 1 R: 2 C: 2 V: 1 N: 1
Kerfuffle's Lower Left Limb Kerfuffles by BronyWriter
Genre: Comedy
The day is saved. Color has returned once again to Hope Hollow and everypony is happy. There's just one lingering question…
Well, I can see why this one's top rated! If you're going to write a story about how Kerfuffle lost her leg, this is the only way to do it right. :) Bravo, BronyWriter, this is a ton of fun!
Highly Recommended
I Remember Red by The 24th Pegasus
Genre: Bittersweet
How is a pony meant to design when all the colors are the same?
Compared to the last story, it's quite the unusual move to put Kerfuffle's accident after the color draining event. I always thought she lost her leg way before that, myself. Anyway, we've got another good depression fic here, as she stumbles through a life devoid of color, caring and purpose. Might be a little rough on those suffering from the same, but it's got a happy ending, and that's not nothing.
Recommended
Words Left Said by Twinkletail
Genre: Shipping
Rarity caught something Kerfuffle said when they first met.
This is one of those quick, "new character, must ship" sorts of stories, which is not a knock against it but certainly gives it a type. Helps that the attraction is based off something which actually happened in the special, of course. It's cute and gets the job done.
Recommended for Shippers
Friends of Fashion by James Pwyll
Genre: Slice of Life
Some of Rarity's friends come together to help another in need.
So this story stars Pistachio, the best pony from the other late-series special, who's feeling down about his own work and needs some cheering. Sassy Saddles, Coco Pommel and Kerfuffle show up to do just that. And that, unfortunately, is all there is to the story. It's not awful, not by half, and the message is good, but what it lacks is a real reason for all four of these characters to be ones needed for telling it. I mean, what they say to him has heft because it comes from them, but any one of the three could have achieved the same results by herself. Also — and I cannot believe I'm criticizing this — the author neglected to utilize Sassy's oh-so-annoying vocal tics, despite having gone to efforts to include Kerfuffle's accent. So I'm really unsure what to make of the whole thing. It's as important as it is substanceless.
Recommended as Light Reading
What a Christmas Kerfuffle! by Flutterpriest
Genre: Holiday Special
No one's coming to Kerfuffle's Hearth's Warming Eve party.
I hate to say it, but I found this terribly bland. It sets up its single pin and knocks it down in quick order, suggesting the issue is low word count, but at the same time that doesn't account for the moral being incredibly pat, or Kerfuffle wondering why a magazine is leading her party-planning astray being less than engaging prose. There's nothing done wrong here, necessarily, it just bounced off me.
Vaguely Recommended
The Greatest Gift by RuinQueenofOblivion
Genre: Shipping
Kerfuffle and Torque Wrench have always been best friends. After Twilight and company come to Hope Hollow, maybe they can become something more.
The first thing you'll notice about this story is the writing is very flat and telly. The second thing you'll notice is it really lays things on thick. Not only have Torque and Kerfuffle been friends since they were young, not only did Torque make the prosthetic leg and Kerfuffle make the ribbon Torque wears, but of course they're secretly in love with each other. This whole 'star-crossed destinies' thing is just not something that interests me anymore. This is a very standard shipping story, and I'd only suggest it if you're really interested in seeing these two get together with the barest of obstacles.
Not Recommended
Make the World a Stage by Strawberry Sunrise
Genre: Poetry/Action
When King Sombra takes over Hope Hollow, only the Power Ponies can stand against him!
Judging by the various ways her name is mangled in this piece, writing a poem about someone named Kerfuffle was no easy task. Look, this isn't perfect by any stretch, but it's flawed in all the right ways. I can accept things like calling Fili-Second "F-Sec" because the rest of this works pretty darn well, and lengthy poems of this sort aren't exactly simple to pull off. I dunno, maybe I'm just in a forgiving mood today, or maybe this is the Power Ponies episode I always wanted. It's definitely in there, somewhere, but I liked the heck out of this.
Recommended
Hurrah for Kerfuffle! (and "Poetry/Action" is a heck of a genre tag!)
I know this isn't a Comprehensive Kerfuffle Collection and you already did mine back in the day, but have you read Naiad's In Which Moondancer Kerfuffles Kerfuffle's Kerfuffly Bit?
Finally, someone sees the light. I need to get around to writing some kerfuffle sometime
and hopefully not make it a horror story.derpicdn.net/img/view/2020/4/13/2321559.png
You know, I don't think I've ever gotten a HR from you. I... I don't know how to feel now. My whole life has been leading up to this, and now that it's here.. I don't know how to feel.
Kerfuffle has the advantage of being the last one-shot waifu of the series, and so was never booped aside for another. She also has the advantage of being earth-shatteringly clute.
Thank you for the review! That story was written in 45 minutes as a part of Jinglemas. It was one I did as fast as possible so I could get 5 stories out as fast as possible to those whose Secret Santas didn't end up making their stories. It was certainly a quantity over quality goal. I love this character and I'd love to try to do her justice. Gotta love the disabled pones :3
5254644
I have, and that was in the highest-rated stories for the tag. :)
5254736
The one thing that really stood out to me about that story, which I didn't mention in the review... Why "Christmas"?
5254785
Well, given the nature of the Jinglemas story exchange, its encouraged the stories are holiday themed. So it was a fairly small box to work in imo. There could have been better ways to do it, but for me it was about the least resistance way to make a story in time for their gifting on Christmas.
oh. was it christmas in the story? That was probably a rushing thing. it probably should have been Hearthwarming.
5254644
Hearty second on this. I'm obviously biased since it was written for me, but the author is known for her writing chops, so it's a safe bet.
5254791
Just the use of the word in the title.
Since I first saw it, this has been my absolute favorite pony meme:
derpicdn.net/img/view/2019/7/6/2084001.png
Also Brooklyn Nine-Nine is fucking amazing and you need to watch it immediately.
Also, this song featuring her is an absolute fucking bop.
5254943
Is that where that meme is from? :O That show is a really great source of quotable hilarity, that's for sure.