Fic recs, July 16th! · 1:26am Jul 17th, 2020
Scribbler's newest reading is Tumbleweed's Fact or Fanfiction, with Agent0Fluffy, Cloud9 and Goombasa!
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Coming into this month's Flash Fiction Online a little late, but we've got an interesting story about wings as a metaphor for depression.
Time for what's likely everyone's least favorite thing I do: minifics. Cuz two of 'em updated recently, and we cannot have that. Imposing Sovereigns II coming soon.
H: 3 R: 8 C: 13 V: 0 N: 0
Kites by Cold in Gardez
Genre: Slice of Life
Twilight sends Starlight a bear.
I came away from this feeling like I didn't get it, but I think it was actually more a sense of "that's it?" There's this whole weird situation with the bear, and, well, maybe I just wanted to know why it had happened in the first place. But that's not resolved, because it's not the point. I'm still not sure what to make of it, beyond that the writing is as good as ever.
Recommended for Starlight Fans
Lost in Fillydelphia by Esle Ynopemos
Genre: Slice of Life
This is a cute piece about Twilight, well, doing what the title says. I expect it was written as an excuse to complain about Philadelphians. :P
Recommended If You Like Cute Stories
Inverted Joke Week, part 1: Fluttershy by Nonagon
Genre: Comedy
I had to wonder what an inverted joke was. In this case, it's like a double inversion. You expect the misunderstanding is the joke, but it's not, and somehow that's funny. I mean, it was funny, I just… Maybe I shouldn't be doing this right now? I'm not doing it very well.
Recommended for Laughs
Darkest Chocolate by FuzzyFurvert
Genre: Crackshipping
A sadly unfinished story that… Boy, you can't get any crackier than the ghost of Nightmare Moon haunting Coco Pommel and also checking out her butt. The unfinishedness is the real downside here, because this stops just as it's getting going, but I kind of adore the setup.
Recommended for Shippers
Why I Love You by HoofAndQuill
Genre: Romance
Well, now this was pretty good! :) It's simple, yes, but it's also a very good look into why Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash would work as a couple, without sacrificing the character of either. I mean, getting Rainbow Dash to talk about her feelings? Definitely this difficult.
Recommended
Coda by FanOfMostEverything
Genre: AU
Octavia's quartet plays for the griffin ambassador.
Okay, I first have to state that this is related to another of FOME's fics, which I haven't read despite it being very old, and so my reaction to the final scene was a pile of question marks appearing above my head. Otherwise, this had some interesting ideas and was just kind of a nice portrait of Octavia's Gala musical group. Plus, her last name is Pie, and it has been a minute since I saw a fic that did that. :)
Recommended If You've Read Elementals of Harmony
It's Only a Flesh Wound by Admiral Biscuit
Reading by ShadowOfCygnus
Sequel to Twilight Gets Stabbed in the Back
Genre: Dark
Twilight survived.
Whoooooa, I'm done with Not Another One-Shot-Ober! And that means I get to go back and add the reading link in to every single minific review because I thought that was a good way to go about doing it for some reason. >:| So yeah, you can check out that link up there and listen to SoC read the entire collection if you so desire. :) Anyway, this was… weird? Interesting implications about both Twilight and Discord, but it definitely doesn't stand on its own. Make sure to (re)read the original first.
Recommended If You Liked the Original
Point/Counterpoint by AugieDog and horizon
Genre: Poem
Well, that was unexpected. Two changelings debating the term "Fairy Sherbet Moose". Like, literally, in all seriousness. And half the poem was even written by someone else! Oh, to have been in that Q&S… :/
Recommended
Seven Seconds Past Three by Silvernis
Genre: Sad Romance
Oh, damn! This collection has suddenly gotten a kick up in quality! This is the kind of story that's really best as a minific. Expansion would mean explaining things unnecessarily or adding in excess details. Instead, it's tight and quick, and it's got LyraBon, which, I mean, what else do you need?
Highly Recommended
The Last Pony in Equestria by Bombastic Bookpony
Genre: Doctor Who Crossover
Rarity and the Doctor visit the end of Equestria.
I'm pretty sure there's an actual new Who episode something along these lines, but this was pretty good. Never seen Rarity as the Doctor's companion before, that's for sure. (Or maybe I have, in this collection, and just forgot. c.c) Either way, not bad at all.
Recommended
When the World Was Saved by QueenMoriarty
Genre: Historical
What better way to celebrate Discord's defeat than with the sky?
What this is is a really great victory lap for Luna and especially Celestia. It's been a long time since I read a historical fic where the writer actually took a stab at EME, and it was so pleasant to see here. The one big ask this story makes of the reader is the idea that Discord ruled for so long, ponies forgot what normal looked like. But I had no trouble getting on base with that, and I was duly rewarded by the end. :)
Highly Recommended
The Greatest Love Story Never Told by ObabScribbler
Genre: Rom-Com
I am actually not sure what the joke is here, but I still laughed. XD
Recommended for Laughs
Overwhelming by SirNotAppearingInThisFic
Genre: Random
So we've got Grampa Gruff telling a story about some griffons of old who were greedy in a specific way and got punished in a very goofy way for it. This maybe isn't the best of this collection, owing at least a little to the surprising number of typos in it. I mean, I don't usually comment on that kind of thing when it comes to minifics, but this is the only story I've read tonight that had issues with it. It still amused.
Recommended for Griffon Fans
A Visit from Death by KwirkyJ
Genre: Slice of Death
Celestia has a chat with a family member.
On the one hand, this is just naked world-building, with a capital-I Immortal Celestia and some allusions that I found quite titillating. On the other hand, this also works because of the connections formed from those allusions. I think this could work on an even larger scale, but I appreciate it as-it.
Recommended
Can't Say Good-Bye by Pascoite
Genre: Slice of Life
This is a quick bit of AppleShy friendshipping, but Pasco really packed a lot in here! I particularly like Fluttershy's response to what would otherwise have been a biting question from Applejack.
Recommended
Ice Cream Is Bad (For You) by Abecedarian
Genre: Comedy
If not for the swearing, this would feel like an early show episode. It's just ponies getting really upset about ice cream and one glorious bastard at the root of everything. I don't even, but this was great.
Recommended
Incident Report #P5109 by FanOfMostEverything
Genre: Versebreakers
Oh hey, I read Verse Averse so I can finally read this, too! And be somewhat disappointed by it as well. :| I mean, the incident report part is actually really great, an excellent way to convey comedy through official language. But then Lyra and Bon-Bon start discussing it, and it brings up all these PTSD issues in Bon-Bon that just killed the comedy. That's my problem with, like, half of these stories: they don't know when to stop being bureaucratic. At least it ends on a positive note, but eh.
Recommended for Versebreaker Fans
Haven by Loganberry
Genre: Slice of Life
This is terrifyingly short, and kind of clever, but not quite clever enough. The prompt included using colored text, and some of it actually conveys information: "you" is in purple, for instance, and when "weak fliers" is yellow, you know exactly who Rainbow is talking about. But not all the meaning came through, and then the author's note explains the whole thing, which… eh.
Recommended If You Like Experimental Fiction
Consistency by Aquaman
Genre: Dark
Discord comes to Tartarus for a chat.
Considering the A/N, I'm surprised this didn't get a solo publication. It's really good, just a short conversation between Discord and Tirek after the season 4 finale, wherein they talk about who they are, what happened between them, and the nature of ponies. Trust me, this is totally worth your time, and the last line is a real 'oh shit' moment. :D
Highly Recommended
Just Girls Talking About Bras I by MythrilMoth
Genre: EQG
I honestly don't know how to take this story. c.c I mean, with a title like that, I was expecting perversion mouthpieced from female characters, but… not really? I mean, it's just two girls talking about bras, and at least there's some lip-service given to Sunset having had to adjust to wearing one. There's in fact almost not enough here. I just... I dunno!
Recommended as Light Reading
Alien by Not_A_Hat
Genre: Sci-Fi Action
This is one of those stories where nothing is explained, so you just have to go with the technobabble. It's easy to figure out what's at stake, though, the tension cuts through the unclear parts effortlessly. I'd certainly like to see more of it and get some explanations!
Recommended
Untitled Discord Fragment by Benman
Genre: Comedy
Okay, this is what a real unfinished minific looks like. It's an amusing scene between Fluttershy and Discord with absolutely no purpose.
Recommended for Laughs
Stepmother Goose by 2Merr
Mature: Sex
Genre: Comedy
This is a bunch of nursery rhymes rewritten to be about pony fucking and Anon. I laughed more than once. Definitely a couple off-color jokes, though, do be warned.
Recommended for Laughs
The Greatest Treasure of All by Chris
Genre: Fairy Tale
Griffon tales are not like pony tales.
Oh boy. This is darkly humorous, because the whole time, you know that it's not going to have a happy ending, and you have to wonder just what the twist is going to be. This was a marvel.
Recommended
Entirely fair. I got too wrapped up in my own magibabble to give as much thought to the emotional content as I should have on that one.
Oral sex is the universe's ultimate joke.
I'm just happy to hear that 2Merr and I
got you off your lazy buttinspired you to do a review set. Glad to hear you liked Greatest Treasure!Try as I might, they aren't all winners. I suspect you'll like Dust Burglassical a bit better.
... which obviously has nothing to do with it being a published first draft that I didn't meaningfully proofread, which is totally not a thing that I do and warn people about in the disclaimer that is Unhinged's long description.
That said, I'll look into it shortly and clean it up.
Also, the amount of time that has passed since I've written much of anything, let alone for Unhinged, is kind of unsettling. On the bright side, I might actually have enough time to write more soon-ish.
Man, I had totally forgotten that I'd written that sonnet with Augie! Thanks for the reminder.
Hey thanks, PP! You always manage to get me to re-read my old stuff and wonder where it all went wrong.
5312299
Happy to... help?
Well, for what it's worth, I just updated Overwhelming (thanks for pointing that out). It's been upgraded to the highest level of "proofread" that one of these shorts usually gets, including some improved phrasing in a couple of places
and one more dumb reference.I knew I should've gone with "monster".