It Is Recommendsday, My Dudes #144 · 7:51pm Dec 20th, 2023
From time to time I've mentioned that recent events preempt what I've got planned for the week's blog or cause me to make specific picks. The last couple of times have been mostly bad, but this week? It's happy news!
See, last Wednesday (less than an hour before I posted last week's update, in fact), it came up that a friend of mine had hit the 500 follower mark. Now for all you 2012 accounts that probably doesn't sound like much but for us more recent ones? That's a pretty high bar and something worth celebrating. And despite his account being a 2015, he didn't start writing (and accumulating follows) until April of 2020 - so he actually hit that mark faster than I did!
So this blog's for you, The Sleepless Beholder.
And if we're gonna talk Sleepless, I have to lead with Balloon To The Moon.
One evening, Princess Celestia raises the moon and thinks wistfully of her sister. But that sad contemplation is broken by a truly odd sight: a little green earth pony filly, slowly floating upwards by way of several balloons tied to her. Unable to deny the sight (and worried that it was a fever dream), the Princess flies over and asks what's happening. The filly's reply is simple: "I'm going to the moon."
So I've mentioned in the past that Sleepless is top notch when it comes to adorable fics, and this is the perfect example of it. It's short, it's simple, it's goddamn cute as hell. I mean, look at that cover art. The artist did an amazing job with it and you can easily see how it inspired this story.
Beyond the cuteness, there's also a great emotional core. Wally's a fairly compatible character with Luna when you look at their character notes: both have a lot of focus on isolation, disrespect, and feeling ignored. Filly Wallflower hasn't gotten to that point yet, but as a general rule the two work together and having her guilelessly wanting to help the Mare In The Moon be less lonely is just so appropriate. The situation does a great disarming of Celestia's defenses, letting her find a bit of solace.
Also as a smaller addition, this story's a delight because it lets the child be a child rather than a short adult. Writing young characters is tough, but Sleeps hits that good balance here. The whole plan feels like something a precocious seven year old would think up, and that's part of why it's so damn cute.
And as a follow-up, I'm gonna pull Sleep's big current ongoing: The Goddess of Empathy.
Sunset Shimmer is sentenced to be executed for her crimes against the Goddess Celestia and the people of Mycemare. She screams one last defiance - then the rope around her neck goes taut. But she's saved in that last second: pulled away from death by a shrouded woman who simply tells her: If you truly wish to atone for your crimes, seek my temple. And thus begins Sunset Shimmer's epic.
So while it's pretty easy to get the jist from the story card, for those who didn't jump to it yet: this is basically Sunset Shimmer Does The Labors Of Hercules. The whole thing's set in a wild alt-u that staples together G4 MLP with classical Greek mythology. Most of the characters we know show up, seen through the lens of being divine beings (Celestia, Cadance, the various Pillars, and so on) or mythological heroes. Even the ones that aren't kinda border on it - they've got that quality where even 'normal people' in legends are a bit bigger than life.
There's plenty under the world-building, too. We've got a good, classical adventure here as Sunset takes on a who's who of the series' big bads in her aforementioned labors. It properly captures that Greek epic feel that way: it's not just sword-swinging, but lots of heroic cunning and divine interference from internal godly politics. (Plus there's a little romantic undercurrent - nothing up front at this stage, but Sleeps is a major SunFlower shipper so c'mon read the room.)
New or catching up? Try Recommendsday: The Index for your story needs!
Woo! Congrats Sleepless! That is quite the accomplishment!
The first one is super cute, loved it from beginning to end.
Admittedly I haven't started the second one yet, it's on my list, I swear!
Thank you so much for this, Tempest! What a way to brighten my day and celebrate the 500 followers.
I specially thank you for your description of Goddess of Empathy because it let's me know I'm doing things right
And yes, the Sunflower will come soon. I just need to get to the midpoint of the story XD
Thanks again. You're awesome!
Read a couple of Sleepless' stories. He does good stuff! Even if a lot of it doesn't appeal to me (an author whose output is almost half EqG, you know the drill: without a lot of endorsements, only the odd one will grab me), that doesn't take away from it. Healthy mix of comedy and drama, and almost exclusively one-shots (apart from the in-progress longfic above, nothing is more than 11K). So very easy to just jump in with a fic that looks interesting!
As for these two, I've read Balloon to the Moon but don't remember a thing about it beyond the premise. Given that short length, back to Re-Evaluate it goes!
An excellent author to feature, and great picks to highlight.