The surly but brilliant police inspector known as "The Lens" has spent her entire career putting thieves and burglars behind bars... but only one of them was ever skilled enough to evade her. "The Magpie" is a masked pony responsible some of the most daring and spectacular thefts in Equestrian history, and despite his fame nopony knows who he is or what he wants.
After seven years of pursuit, Inspector Spectacles is determined to stop his most brazen heist yet and put him in prison one and for all... but nothing is ever so simple. Even in defeat, the charming and enigmatic pony has the city of Canterlot in an uproar. Although the Inspector knows everything about his methods, she must now unravel the truth about his personal motives—and in so doing, face a fearful moral quandary.
Why? Why? Why does this lack comments? Feedback? Favorites?
I apologize, DuncanR. Like I said in 'An It Harm None', I'm not very good at properly criticizing works of literature. I really just... go with what my gut tells me it's going to be good. I know it is kind of disheartening to get a bland comment... "awesome" and "moar
" can be equally bad and as uninformative as "go die in a fire". I will try, however, to state some of my thoughts on this story, because it certainly deserves, at least, me trying to.
Your works strike me as more than just good because you're not patronizing us. You pose clever questions and help us work towards the answers ourselves. You'd be more than a mere teacher. You'd be a tutor.
Which often makes me ponder why I don't read Shortskirsandexplosions' stories. I often find myself trying, and trying hard to enjoy his works. But I dislike the verbalism that is often found in his stories. He too, doesn't act condescending towards his readers (as far as I know, that is), but his stories seem to lose their weight, making it look like they're written like that just to attract attention towards the writing itself and not the content. Yeah, the pure definition of verbalism, I know. I must sound like a broken record by now...
In short, I do not think that he is a bad writer. Not by a long shot. I just find his writing unappealing to me. A matter of opinion at best...
Anywho, thank you for this entertaining and thought provoking read.
Sincerely, your favorite non-specific central nervous system inhibiting neurotransmitter,
Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid.
PS: Apologies if this isn't the comment you deserved. But it's me trying my best at giving you something more meaningful.
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I read this comment immediately after reading your comment on "An It Harm None", and I assure you the nature of the previous comment lends you all the weight needed to prove that this one is also sincere. Thank you.
This is actually one of the earliest fanfictions I've ever written (An It Harm None was one of the first), and it took a lot of courage to edit and publish it. And again, the fact that you were able to enjoy the story itself in spite of any technical flaws or failings is the biggest complement I could hope for: the writing was so transparent that it did nothing to detract from the experience I was trying to craft for you.
I cannot count the number of times I've seen someone post a comment comprised of only a single word: "First!" It's sad and pathetic when it happens, and now I know why they do it: because yours is the post they wish they could write. It's nice when "first" and "good" coincide.
I'm going to have to read a few of SSAE's stories and see for myself. One piece of advice I keep hearing is that "if you want to be a writer, read as much as possible." I think it might be time to buckle down and do some reading of my own.
I've whipped up a blog post that talks about my recent writing experiences. Now that I think of it, it harkens back to a comment you posted earlier.
You managed to keep me guessing at the conclusion right up to end. Every one of my ideas was wrong. A mean feat. And I loved every single second of it. Do it again, do it again!
Fascinating and thought-provoking. I like your take on the power and nature of cutie marks...or, at least, Spectacles' theory about them.
Thank you for a fine read.
Very good tale, congratulations
I see you dislike short comments, but I just want to mention that I think this story is amazing and to thank you for it
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Comments of all lengths are always appreciated, if they're honest. It's just that the shorter ones are a little harder to respond to. I like comments that give me something to think about, or that tell me why the story was liked or disliked.
But I'm still glad you liked it!
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If you are interested - I personally like quality original stories with ponies.
I like stories with well done characters. It does not mean that I dislike non-OC stories, it also does not mean that I like OC because they are OC.
The reason I love OC stories is simple - after you finished your first hundred of stories featuring mane6 - you start appreciate new characters. Also it is true that that OC is harder to catch and make believable, it is true that here are a lot of crappy OC stories like 'oh-my-god-i-am-alicorn-and-everypony-loves-me". But it is also true that there are true gems in OC stories - like this or this or this etc. They are rare and hard to find and I appreciate every new one I stumble upon.
'Flight of the Magpie' may not be ideal, but: it has believable characters and nice plot, and, well, I had a really nice time reading it
This story was wonderful and the ending made it all come together, but it also needs a bit of proofreading, too.
... As soon as you unshackle yourself.
Is that supposed to be 'hearing'?
While originally I was going to write this out for your Seattle's Angels review... I can't.
...mainly because this was already IN Seattle's Angels. So I'll just give it to you here!
When I first started reading this story, I had wondered if was a parody of the classic Pink Panther series, only with an extremely competent Inspector. Comments regarding the “insidious” nature of the Magpie seems a little odd to me. It even became a little distracting.
PaulAsaran (who recommended it) suggested I keep going. I’m glad I did.
What we have here appears to be little more than a mystery, but a unique one, since most of the story happens after the jewel thief has been caught. The mystery is why the thief does what he does. It’s a few layers of why, actually!
While the story does need a little bit of proofreading polish, it’s definitely well worth a read. We’ve got Spectacles constantly “smoking” a bubble pipe (to the point where she’s actually told it’s not permitted in places), the strange nature of fame/infamy and we get to see my favorite Celestia: Chessmaster Celestia. Tackling surprisingly heavy concepts that are unique to the MLP universe, it’ll make you think a lot about just what is really happening behind all that crazy magic that makes Equestria Equestria.
I also may have shipped Spectacles and Hearts. Heavily. As in, really wanted that. But that’s me. Shut up.
You can has review!
No genre tags?
Damn this is criminally underviewed. Especially around the middle I kept half-expecting it to turn into a romance fic with the weirdest courtship (despite knowing it had no such tag), but I have to say that the actual ending was also a very pleasant surprise!