Ghost Mike's Ponyfic Review Monday Musings #89 · 6:02pm Nov 20th, 2023
Well, my opening blurb topic got postponed last minute, leaving me high and dry. Bugger. Eh… I guess Ponyville Ciderfest's Charity Auction (which broke the prior Bronycon record and raised over $100K) including anonymously donated scripts (with notes) for nearly the whole series counts? This stuff's been in the wild for four years, but if the pony archive storing it gets more eyeballs on it, now it's less of a moral grey area, hey, more power to that.
That said, I did have other things that caught my eye. Just not blog openers. Next month was already big for me in media I adore, being when Studio Ghibli’s first film in nine years, and Hayao Miyazaki’s in ten, The Boy and the Heron, comes to Western cinemas (look, there’s a reason I don’t watch a lot of anime, beyond just the time commitment for most series or the regressive views of much of it: pure quality fantasy with the look of Ghibli characters is something I’ve never seen on a cinema screen in initial release), as well as the sequel to one of my favourite animated films ever, Chicken Run. Still praying Netflix do what they did with del Toro’s Pinocchio and put Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget in cinemas in at least a limited capacity there.
But, I just found out that Toho not only had a new Godzilla film out this year, it’s already out in Japan and making big box-office and reception waves there, and will release in the rest of the world next month. I’m no Godzilla diehard, but the quality cream of the crop across the franchise’s nearly forty film can’t be beat – I am one of those people who not only liked the 2014 film, but firmly believes its outright rejection by many contributed further to the atrophying of modern blockbuster filmmaking that now can’t even muster up a superficial level of artistry. And, between never having seen a Japanese one in cinemas and many intriguing concepts for this one (a period piece as opposed to being contemporary or in the future; set during the American occupation of Japan right after World War II), it’s certainly on my list. The mixed Western feelings on Shin Godzilla does linger in my mind that it could not travel well again, but I’d rather take the plunge with this Godzilla Minus One this then… wait, that Hunger Games prequel finally came out? I didn’t see any ads for it! Very telling, isn’t it? Not that I would have seen it anyway.
Well, then that or the MCU’s latest bonafide bomb. Or hell, then Disney’s Wish this coming weekend (which I will still, animation studio history obligation…): whatever positive early buzz that existed there has flatlined fast now people have seen the bloody thing (Rotten Tomatoes doesn’t mean a bloody thing, but 57% this early, when even mediocre animations routinely scrape fresh scores off relaxed standards, is a major yikes; even DreamWorks’ Trolls Band Together had fared better with critics and audiences!). But I’ve beat on that drum enough times. Point being, I’m more and more willing to give non-English cinema a whirl, and other folks should be too! Not just the latest viral hit of the week, everyone who binged Squid Game because it was “the thing”.
To the week’s selection. A month’s time since novel-length fics started being included means only one thing – another novel! 
That, coupled with the rest not all being tiny little one-shots, sets a new record for the longest word-count in a week yet, at almost 94K. Not quite 100K, I know (and yes, PaulAsaran, go ahead with another “aw, how cute you think that’s a big figure, I just want to pinch your little ectoplasmic cheeks” – three times makes a tradition, as they say). Said novel is certainly a contrast from last time’s old school adventure story, being not just a Drama, but that oh-so-slippery-if-full-of-potential genre, the Adopt Scootaloo fic. How will it fare? Read on to find out!
Plus, you know, the other four fics, they’re here too. 
Not a solo-outing Monday Musings even when there’s a novel involved, no sir!
This Week’s Spectral Stories:
Three Gems and a Scooter by RaylanKrios
Like a Princess by Mica
Blankets by MidnightDancer
Golly! by Thunderbug80
Solitude for the Modern Businessmare by Fahrenheit
Weekly Word Count: 93,591 Words
Three Gems and a Scooter by RaylanKrios
Genre: Drama/Sad/Slice of Life
Characters
72,890 Words
December 2014-January 2017
[NOTE: The review of this novel-length story was written before I’d fully settled on my approach to such fics. So, while it is longer than almost any other review I’d done, it is not as in-depth as the one for The Moonstone Cup in Monday Musings #85.]
A regular day of Boutique work for Rarity is interrupted when Sweetie Belle bursts in, in tears that Scootaloo is being moved from her current foster home to one in Baltimare. Always willing to help, Rarity first looks around for anypony else in town that could possibly be her guardian instead. When that doesn’t work, and her wrangling of another chance for Scootaloo at her current home doesn’t even uplift the filly, Rarity volunteers to be her temporary foster parent until a more permanent adoption can be done locally.
In becoming something of a mom, Rarity will discover just to what extent Scootaloo has closed herself off, how to work around the little they have in common, and what she can do to meet the filly on her level. Scootaloo herself will find herself clinging to her old suspicion even as Rarity is ever generous, opening herself up at a very gradual rate. And both of them will find out that their former ideals for family – a handsome stallion for one, an awesome athlete of a certain pegasus for the others – will be challenged in ways big and small.
This fic was written to freshen up the myriad of Scootaloo Adoption fics, by pairing her with a pony she's virtually never with (for such stories or otherwise), and using the personality juxtaposition to freshen up the drama, without changing either pony to get around how little they have in common. There is a little bit of the “unrevealed hobby/pastime” on both ends that does give some minor mutual territory throughout (Scootaloo liking dancing, Rarity is a poker shark), but such elements are window dressing; the fic does by and large fulfil its promise. Not without some further wrangling of the characters – this Scootaloo is awfully sullen even when the topic isn’t on her – but for the most part, such decisions do have rationale even when they are rather overcooked. And heightened drama is part and parcel for this genre.
The approach to Scootaloo is certainly interesting, as somepony so jaded by the shifts around families that she only sees adults as wanting her for what they can get (be it the welfare check or somepony to do chores), but in a more authentically brittle manner than it might seem. Rarity’s reaction, once she learns more about Scootaloo and what she does or doesn’t want, is to not force anything, not even for her to be happy, and thus does thaw Scoots at a pace that is fast to read yet authentic in-story (the chapters are, certainly, well-breaked to demand “just one more”, which makes me glad I didn’t have to wait a year for the last eight to get squeezed out). I don’t think I ever found their dynamic all that penetrative (the prose and slack control of perspective being a key reason why), but it does work, and is pleasant enough. As is Rarity’s gradual shift even she doesn’t notice from doing a good thing just as a stop gap to growing attached to Scootaloo.
The actual conflict throughout manages to be not so blatantly heightened to the point of absurdity as many such fics, which is important when it mostly oscillates from one new thing to the other (they are usually hinted at earlier, but more in a lip service manner than a organic momentum-starting setup). Rainbow Dash’s role resisting adopting Scootaloo herself, and Rarity wrestling with Scoots continued adoration of the pegasus and certainly it'll be a done deal once she can fly, manages to keep things balanced and everypony all to blame somewhat with no clear bad guy; even Scootaloo’s case officer is far friendlier and sympathetic than is usually the case. This doesn’t always stop such things from feeling like props – the new potential parents for Scootaloo vanishing without another mention once their plot purpose is served is especially egregious – but it goes a long way to making the fic readable.
This is, let’s be clear, a “soap opera” type of fic, one where not only are the fantasy elements of the show almost totally absent (the most notable use of magic, beyond Scootaloo’s lack of flight, is a soothing, comfort spell Rarity uses for fabric retrofitted to ease Scootaloo when tucking her in), but where any element of a character’s life not directly relevant to the on-page events is only occasionally present or mentioned. Besides Dash, the rest of the Mane 6 get maybe ten lines apiece all story, and you can count the number of scenes Scootaloo has with the Crusaders (the ponies she spends the majority of her free time with in the show) on one hoof; I don’t think Apple Bloom spoke until the halfway mark, and considering she’s the inciting incident, Sweetie Belle is largely absent.
Besides that, many of the usual structural flaws of such fics abound: a shaggy momentum common of semi-improvised fics, aspects of a character’s life and whole subplots (sometimes key ones, like Scootaloo’s next promising adoptive parents) vanishing for lengthy stretches, things summarised in reflection to finish the story quicker when they would be more effective in real-time. And, the most damning staple of interpersonal drama fics, the core conflict wrapping up with 15-20% of the story still to go, leaving the last stretch to basically putter along limply before screeching to a halt at an hastily-constructed (in-universe and out-of-it) full stop.
Thus, the conundrum. The fic does its fair share to make its dicey topic work with this unusual pairing, and as regards that it’s a success. And as far as keeping me reading and lightly engaged, it passes with flying colours. But the structure is too rough and limp, the focus far too narrow in the “soap opera” aspects to the exclusion of the rest of the characters’ lives, the prose and perspective switches far too slack, and the plotting just artificial enough for it to be a wholehearted recommendation. To those mighty curious on these two characters in this kind of familial relationship, a hearty one. Otherwise, a mixed bag leaning good, and certainly above-average for its type. Not enough for me to relinquish my general distrust for Adopt Scootaloo fics, mind (and I joined here in 2018 – I’m sure those folks around in 2012-15 were far more sick of the deluge of such from then!), but it was broadly satisfying.
Rating: Decent
Like a Princess by Mica
Genre: Slice of Life (Alternate Universe)
Zipp, Queen Haven, OC
5,309 Words
October 2023
It would be fair to say Zipp didn’t want to be a Princess. Though it would be more accurate to say that she didn’t want to be the kind of formal, girly, dress-wearing, quiet princess all her lessons are concentrated on modelling her into. For there are certain things that princesses just don’t do, and it doesn’t matter that some of those things are of interest to Zipp. And as the weight of expectations and responsibilities conspire to get her to bury her true self, even she can’t ponder what it truly means to be a princess anymore.
In the film’s immediate aftermath, there were a decent number of fics exploring Zipp’s experience growing up as a rebellious, not-proper-princess sort, though they mostly tended to focus on the royal lie of flight or trying to restore magic. Despite Zipp being a fav for many in not representing a typical princess, fics actually tackling that for her growing up in and of itself, as opposed to just a personality detail alongside the rest, were rare. So even had this come out two years ago (when Mica started writing it – sometimes they just take ages to crack), it would have been unique enough. Now, it really stands out, beyond just being a fic compliant to ANG but not bothered with perfectly lining up with MYM (the source of the Alternate Universe tag you probably wouldn’t feel it needed otherwise, just pre-empting against slight differences in Zipp’s fillyhood and Haven’s characterisation), itself a huge rarity these days I heartily welcome.
Zipp’s story is one of those covering select snapshots that encapsulate the phases of her life as a filly through to a young adult. The earlier ones largely centre are her royal lessons from the governess, from Zipp’s petulant resistance in the early going to an incident that, taken the wrong way, provokes her to suppress her instinct and conform to what is expected as a princess (trying to imagine Zipp with a mane as long as she grows it here certainly is a vivid image).
Surprisingly, said governess isn’t made out to be a villain or even an antagonist, a thoroughline that feeds through to Haven towards the end. This comes about by being a critique on gender roles, without devolving into also being about gender identity, which shouldn’t feel as rare as it is, but I digress. The narrowed focus on just the former lets it weigh in on the usual ingredients of being yourself despite others’ expectations, making it more specific and standout.
Denial, the effect that our insisting on etiquette only the one way kills others slowly, there’s a lot of heavy material here, but it feels earned, using the transitions and even the fallbacks on telling to speed the years along to heighten Zipp’s feelings. It’s not overtly heavy-hitting, and does get a little clunky (plus odd mistakes like the age gap between Zipp and Pipp shortening from three years to just one, weirdly), but is it easy to and get swept up in. Mica delivers yet another G5 fic worth the dive.
Rating: Pretty Good
Blankets by MidnightDancer
Genre: Romance/Slice of Life
Mr. Cake, Mrs. Cake
2,556 Words
February 2014Reread
Next to being a father to two foals, marriage is the hardest thing Carrot Cake has been through. Over the last decade, his relationship with Cup Cake has gradually widened, not from any one major incident but from lots of little things, to the point that when he wakes up one night from a chill to find her hogging the blankets, he ponders the canyon that now exists between them.
It’s a relationship problems story, yes, but this one is full of the kind of realism and nuance that makes for art, not angst. In the early going, with Carrot silently pondering the disconnected state between him and Cup as he stares at her sleeping form, it can feel like a competent-written if ordinary midlife crisis. As it continues, though, it builds a structure, letting us in on why they’ve been drifting apart.
A few key things make this really land. One is that, having established it’s the little things, the fic cements the divide as the subtle silent type, the one where neither party says anything outward but both can feel it. Another is that it doesn’t stop at the how, but goes further, moving through the source of Carrot’s feelings to the point where he makes no bones about what he’s done to contribute to this divide, and it’s the furthest thing from trying to elicit sympathy or pity. By the end, it’s fully painted a picture of somepony who understands his wife very well and can see himself through her eyes. The fears are grounded in an all-too-real way, but alongside the cause being contemplated, there’s ruminating on what can be done to fix it.
Making the mundane relationship drift beautiful is no easy feat, yet MidnightDancer has managed it really well here. The self-awareness and expression via metaphors throughout make for a very deftly expressed portrayal of the subject matter, and despite the short length and lack of things that happen, it's dense with material and leaves you drained for the better by the end. Going in, I wondered how this earned a Royal Canterlot Library feature, but having read it again, there’s no doubt as to that now.
Rating: Really Good
Golly! by Thunderbug80
Genre: Comedy/Slice of Life
Twilight, Cozy Glow, Luster Dawn, Starlight, Spike
2,801 Words
June 2020Reread
The three decades since Twilight’s coronation as reigning Princess of Equestria have been a time of unbridled peace. An overabundance of heroes and better understanding of friendship than ever has assured that. It would all be enough for Twilight to relax. Except that Cozy Glow has been escaping from her stone prison lately. On a regular basis. And it’s really driving her up the wall.
I confess, there’s a slight mismatch of tones here. Most of the fic has an underpinning of the more detached, snarky, and not-meant-to-be-taken-seriously kind of comedy, and it’s one the fic openly embraces at the end when we learn exactly how Cozy is escaping. The kind where some characters decide to just enjoy the show of Twilight’s unbridled frustration. But while this is present for most of the fic – Twilight does re-petrify Cozy each time, paying her attempts at manipulation no heed – it’s not emphasised nearly enough, leaving much of it in a limbo of not being outwardly absurd enough that the characters’ behaviour feels a little off. At least, during the first half, when we’re pivoting from calm slice-of-life scenes with Twilight and whoever she’s talking with, to another Cozy alert that she excuses herself to deal with.
That said, while this left me feeling a little dissatisfied afterwards, the bulk of the fic is pleasant and amusing, and the end punchline pretty funny. Certainly I prefer less-sincere tones if I am to read a post-show and/or Cozy fic! So it went down fine.
Rating: Decent
Solitude for the Modern Businessmare by Fahrenheit
Genre: Romance/Drama
Rarity, Ms. Harshwhinny
10,035 Words
August 2016Reread
The latest Hearts and Hooves Day alone for Rarity proves doubly frustrating when the perfect dress she’s sunk so much time into refuses to come together. Resigned to packing up for the night, she heads out into a dark and dull Canterlot, but her journey home is punctuated by a most odd sight: Ms. Harshwhinny on the street, alone and still. Though initially brushing it off, Rarity’s curiosity and loneliness gets the better of her, promoting her to stop and chat. Doing so ends up being the catalyst to a night rather unbefitting for a lady, but then again, Rarity is not just a lady.
Whatever you likely think this story will entail, it subverts them. Before the night is out, this frustration of inspiration on Rarity’s part, once shared with her companion, will lead the pair from flaunting at a rival’s soiree to getting on the wrong side of the law, with more than a few unexpected pit stops. The construction of such is pretty marvellous: several times I thought we were nearing the end and expected the remaining xK words to be belabouring the point, yet Farenheight kept managing to extend it in organic ways that drove home the point better and made for a less formulaic path in hindsight. Other than the slightly clunky epilogue (which could be quietly snipped out with minimal ill effects), which also foregrounds the romance tag in a way the fic largely hadn’t, but that’s minor.
What may be most impressive here is the characterisation for Rarity: it’s in first-person, and somehow manages to nail a balance of wordiness in how she thinks and notices things, one that comes out more where clothing or reading ponies is concerned, yet feel utterly natural and not like parody at all. She also has a penchant for how she privately concedes her weaknesses (usually around not being modest for once) that is pure delectable poetry and sings every time such a moment crops up. Other such examples of this voice in action crop up throughout, and it’s great. Harshwhinny obviously doesn’t come close to that, but her less formal side, and a different approach to creativity, do feel natural in a way you wouldn’t expect from such a pony.
It’s ultimately just a fun story about two mares at a crossroads in their lives bouncing off one another and finding paths forward again, but it’s a really well crafted one. And it’s actually stronger for barely being a romance at all, more just about personal inspiration and satisfaction with one’s life, yet in a manner that if one is looking for the romance, still sells that in an inferred way. A quasi-drama and adventure in its own way, it’s a deft blend that, much like Rarity, is rather modest with its talent, but earns its hog in the spotlight.
Rating: Really Good
Spooky Summary of Scores:
Excellent: 0
Really Good: 2
Pretty Good: 1
Decent: 2
Passable: 0
Weak: 0
Bad: 0
Has it really been that long since a Miyazaki release? I'm surprised, but I guess I wasn't paying attention to the movie space. Miyazaki movies are usually worth it so I'll be looking forward to it. Ditto on that Chicken Run sequel. I normally don't expect much from sequels, but given it's been 23 years I'm willing to hope they were just waiting for a good enough idea to drop.
I want to see Shin Godzilla someday, it looks like a fun new take, and Godzilla Minus One certainly has my attention. Admittedly, I didn't watch any of the franchise up until the 2014 movie, unless you count the cartoon that ran in the 70's and got rerun on Cartoon Network when I was a kid. I absolutely loved King of Monsters though so now I'm more open to exploring the series as a whole. That said, I found Godzilla vs. Kong a bit too dumb for my tastes, awesome fight scenes aside.
Yeah, no, I ain't poking this one. 94k's a lot.
I could have sworn I'd read that ScootaRarity (RariLoo?) story, but it's not in my archives. Curious, it's such an unusual combination that it would naturally draw me in.
And because it bears reiterating:
Yes you are, Rarity, and I love you all the more for it.
"American operation" I think you meant "occupation." I always like to think of Mr. Otto Keureckt as an evil little gremlin who deliberately messes up things the moment you look away. The existence of such creatures would certainly explain why my car keys are never where I left them.
BTW, thanks for doing such thorough reviews. I admit that occasionally, when I'm feeling a time crunch, I just scan the page, checking for the content and ratings. I'm glad that today wasn't one of those rare occasions, because a not-quite-top-rated story about G5 would have been immediately dismissed. Given the full review, Like a Princess sounds very interesting to me, particularly when it's based on the movie, and not the rest of the—mess.
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Main reason is they spent seven years on this film. And not the usual "slow faffing about before they enter active production" thing either, this was his dedication to overseeing and correcting much of the animation clashing with his age, meaning he did that much slower. Every few years we'd get a "it's x% complete" update, and reportedly, the main reason Ghibli sold streaming rights to Netflix of their catalogue was to fund the film. Something Miyazaki had to be convinced on as to the value, as he doesn't even use a computer, let alone watch tv or use anything in streaming.
That does certainly seem to be a part of it. I have noticed a trend with Aardman from about the mid-2010s onwards of being a bit more commercially-minded, it just takes a more distinctive and idiosyncratic form than when Hollywood does the same. The reception on this since its festival premiere in October does seen to be in the same "goofy if shallow lark" territory as most of their recent flicks, without the extra spark that elevated the first or Curse of the Were-Rabbit to being impeccable masterpieces of British comedy. But flipping a prison escape film into a heist break-in's an organic enough direction, I suppose.
I did read the sequel was originally meant to focus on Rocky and his son, until all the female employees called out the creative staff, calling attention to how Chicken Run, with its prison of all ladies and one old rooster, was a defining feminist movie for its generation. They realised that was totally right, and thus it's now about Ginger and her rebellious daughter.
It won't be to everyone's tastes, but in returning to psychological horror with the Big G as a villain, and being about Japanese government bureaucracy straining to put a band-aid solution on a Fukushima-analogue, it's got a lot of personality and clear strength in what it's doing. Their's certainly style aplenty, as you'd hope from the creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion, and while the Big G's time is limited, every second we see him counts in presence and effect.
Neither of those worked for me, alas, though I preferred the latter for at least being shorter and having more legible fight scenes. But as I hinted at earlier, the rest of the MonsterVerse course-corrected from Godzilla '14 in a way that did a lot of damage, and didn't really fix the things one could argue were problems in that flick.
I've read enough of your novel reviews that I think you'd like it a little more than I did; while it does have a lot of the "soap opera" clichés, very few are played all that bad, which if one has read as many of such fics as you probably have, will make it less of an issue. And thus the unique strengths of the titular mother-daughter pairings at the centre stand out all the better.
You mean we.
It was only not wanting to seem like a copycat that kept me from quoting this line myself. I was as onboard with turns of phrase like this as yourself.
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I did mean that, derp. Can you tell I wrote much of this in a mad hurry?
Of course, Japan's involvement in the war barely gets taught in Europe, so much of the details of that post-war occupation is largely only known here to those curious enough to read about it of their own volition. I've read a decent bit, but I'd be less well-informed than an American interested in the same.
A feeling I totally understand, irrespective of you being on a long and busy trip, and a reason why I try to keep them on the shorter side (something I utterly failed at with this fic, but hey, it was interesting). To the point that where once I would have worried, if I see a one-shot review barely scrapes 300 words, but I reached the organic structural end anyway, I usually call it there.
By now, it takes a very strong endorsement from a trusted source for me to look at anything G5 that incorporates show-canon, because even the strong elements I'm receptive to the potential of (say, Misty) usually bring far too much baggage. As I came to FiM so late, looking back at fics set early was such a norm to me that the same here feel perfectly natural, and while I'm sure such things will remain rare, even apart from their being hard limits to how much can me wrung from just that one film (most folks who will read a G5 fic accept the later stuff), I'll continue to keep an eye out for newer such stories.
I love Three Gems and A Scooter, and in hindsight should have put it in my top 10. I won't try to negate or excuse your points - different people reading any fanfic's mileage will vary. I guess to sum my own end up, it combines the wholesome slice-of-life of early fanfics that wanted no more than to let their readers spend just a little more time in the Equestria they loved, with a unique pairing that dodges the rote problems of most such fics being well-trod and predictable. It's one of the few multi-chapter fics I've read over and over, because it feels so good to revisit. And if that's nostalgia talking, so be it.
Solitude is a Harshwhinny story, which immediately gets my attention, and does her the perfect justice: in it she is neither a caricature nor a stranger to her canon self, but recipient of depth and personality that fanfics sometimes can breath into minor characters. That it is an uncommon pairing for her is just icing on the cake. Excuse me as I go re-read it.
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Took me a moment to realise you were referring to that blog of yours from a bit back!
As it was off your recommendation I read the thing in the first place, I knew you'd be coming here singing its praises. And while I can't overlook a lot of the "soap opera" tics here that I still find somewhat rote, the unique pairing does give it a lot of weight, and even for a 2015 fic, it feels altogether classical in the manner you describe, which is something I always like.
I would also say, a longfic grabbing a strong Decent is more impressive than a one-shot doing the same. it rations out to an average, but as we all knows, the strong elements will get enough showcasing across a novel as to leave you with more good feelings than with a one-shot of the same ratio. So, no, I don't love it anything like you do, but I am glad I read it, make no mistake.
And as regards being a multi-chapter Adopt-A-Scootaloo fic you've returned to read multiple times… sounds a lot like my feelings on Eakin's A Taste of the Good Life. I think one could also find some issues with it for sure, maybe even some of the ones mentioned above, but it just nails all the things that matter as far as I'm concerned. There must be a reason it makes Scootabuse (parental Acootabuse at that), a trope I normally detest, and spins it into a wonderful romantic drama.
Four readings in, nostalgia may play a big part there too.
You are welcome to interpret that story being here this week as a make-up for one of your favourite fics doing merely reasonably. I would not say that myself, but are welcome to.