Fic recs, May 4th! · 8:21pm May 4th, 2023
VisualPony has done a reading of Prince Luna's Zecora Walks Through Poison Joke!
Hey, I'm getting all kinds of things done today! Except I had meant to start touching up my nail polish after I posted this, and typing with only 6 usable fingers suuuuucks. c_c Whoops.
H: 0 R: 2 C: 4 V: 0 N: 1
Discount Chocolates by pokefreak13
Reading by VisualPony
Genre: Light Shipping/Comedy
Rainbow Dash is bad at Hearts and Hooves Day.
"Rainbow Dash is bad at things" has always been a funny conceit simply because she's so self-assured and has no qualms boasting about her greatness at every opportunity. Since the first time she was bad at cooking, I have always enjoyed stories that use the trope, and this one's no different. :) So if you like that sort of thing, and don't mind a little UST between Mane 6 members, this delivers and is pretty funny to boot!
Recommended
The Right Gift of Love by SaraSantiago
Reading by Lotus Moon, Art Star and XavierthePhoenix
Genre: Shipping
Rainbow Dash has something special to do this Hearts and Hooves Day.
Amazing that I read this right after another AppleDash. This story, sadly, lacks all of the previous one's good points. I mean, I love Rainbow's reaction to seeing what day it is, but that sadly doesn't set the tone. I just don't see her being all moony about H&H day. Along with the characterization, the writing leaves something to be desired, featuring tense shifts, saidisms, an overall simplistic approach and far too many instances of AJ saying "mighty". This was the author's third fic, and though they said it's their first one-shot, a third fic shouldn't still have first fic syndrome.
Not Recommended
Another Night with the Lunar Guard by Light Heart101
Reading by VisualPony
Genre: Comedy
Never a dull moment with these ponies.
So I was going to have two things to say about this story: that it doesn't just use the T-word so much as marinates in it, and that the attempts at comedy were pretty lackluster. Then I got to the punchline. I am so mad. Well done, author, you super-duper got me. (Okay, but does Equestria not have maternity leave or what?)
Recommended for Laughs
Think Pink (Probably) by Ice Star
Reading by Lotus Moon and Quinch
Sequel to Dressed to Impress
Genre: Rom-Com
When you date the goddess of dreams, be prepared for nighttime shenanigans.
In the last story, we found out Sombra is gender non-conforming as fuck, more or less not having a gender, and enjoys wearing mare's clothing. In this one… That actually kind of doesn't matter? Though his reaction to wearing the outfit pictured on the cover is as surprising as it is amusing. The rest of this is just a nice look at his relationship with Luna, told first-person for a change, and it was honestly just a pleasure to read. The way their relationship and chemistry is portrayed is what keeps me coming back to these stories. :) Well, and the audiobooks.
Recommended
Roses by KorgiKardigan
Reading by VisualPony
Genre: Slice of Life
Princess Luna has a talk with her stuck-up nephew.
This story does a lot of things right. It starts with, if not a subversion of the weather report opening, at least a clever usage of one. The dynamic between Luna and Blueblood is solid, and a lot of thought has been put into how, exactly, she might view him considering how early this is after her return. And everything dovetails into a very nice metaphor concerning roses. Nothing too deep or complex, it works out well. :) That said, it's all somewhat marred by a number of POV shifts. Is it enough to detract from the overall story? No, but if you're sensitive to such things, you're gonna notice, and it will bother you.
Recommended If You Don't Mind POV Shifting
Must You? by Twinkletail
Reading by Lotus Moon
Genre: Romance
Pinkie may have rubbed off on Rarity more than she thought.
In preparation for this story, I was contemplating how I never really got into RariPie as a ship, and put the reason squarely on the thought that they have the two least compatible personalities among the mane six. I feel like Twinkletail may have considered the very same thing before writing this story, as it is all about ways in which they have and have not compromised in order to be together in a relationship. In that sense, this is considerably stronger than your average shipfic. But plot-wise, if you're not interested in their relationship, there won't be much to grab you.
Recommended for Shippers
Rainbow Dash vs. Ronald McDonald by BrightMac86
Reading by VisualPony
Genre: Random Comedy
It's all-out restaurant war!
I did not have high expectations going into this, which was good, since the writing could be better. But oh my god, it's so funny?? Like, using Hamburglar as a mob-style tough? Hilarious! At no time did I know what to expect, and all the turns were just delightful. I suppose it's possible that if you're outside the US, or just really young, you're not going to be familiar with the old character-centric McDonald's ads, but if you are, this reminded me of one of the great random classics from earlier in the fandom's life, plus I just adore treating advertising mascots this way. Also, VisualPony decided to read Ronald McDonald's dialogue in the creepiest way possible, which only made things better!
Recommended for Laughs
Robble Robble
I've really been meaning to read Ice Star's prettySombra stories.
Probably would be good of me to mention that the audio version is outdated compared to the current version. It's what happened when I revised my stories.
5727785
this seems to keep happening! >:V
5727791
I list the update dates in the A/n of each story.