Ghost Mike's Ponyfic Review Monday Musings #96 · 6:00pm January 15th
Last week was the “serious” side of looking back at 2023 for Ghost Mike’s Ponyfic Review Monday MusingsTM in review, focusing largely on quantifiable stats calculated in the Archive Spreadsheet. Now it’s time for the fun, goofy side of that – quirky takeaways that don’t mean much except being something to chuckle at.
One fun thing with any Ponyfic reviewer, I find, is to see what kind of fics and authors he gravitates towards. At least, for the most casual, selective folks like me – others out there are making a good faith effort to read far and wide across all genres and people. Regardless, I thought it would be fun to see every author I reviewed at least three fics from in 2023. Any author in bold had an author spotlight contribute some or all of their fics.
- 10 Stories: Level Dasher
- 9 Stories: Ninjadeadbeard*
- 8 Stories: Impossible Numbers
- 7 Stories: Casketbake77, Lucky Dreams, Rune Soldier Dan
- 6 Stories: Chris, mushroompone
- 5 Stories: FanOfMostEverything, Aragon, Piccolo Sky, Tinybit92
- 4 Stories: 8686, Loganberry, Mica, Pascoite
- 3 Stories: Blueshift, Estee, Georg, horizon, Lets Do This, MidnightDancer, PaulAsaran, Raugos
* This isn't ten as one fic in Ninja's spotlight was published by Nailah that he co-authored on
All told, these authors with three fics of more apiece represented 120 of the 267 stories, or 44.94%. Shout out to Impossible Numbers, for being the spotlighted author to have the most fics covered outside of a spotlight, and FanOfMostEverything, for the non-spotlighted author with the most fics. Which, hey, chap’s an absolute champ in his writing and has penned a lot of one-shots, it’s almost a bonus he’s such a nice and generous soul to boot.
Naturally, lots of my favourites up there: outside of the two posthumous spotlights, I’d say of the other 22, only Piccolo Sky, Tinybit92 and MidnightDancer aren’t authors I keep a heavy eye on and go out of my way at least marginally to read stuff from. In other observations, Aragon would for sure be higher if I hadn’t dragged my heels on his spotlight. I’m also quite stunned that TCC56 didn’t crack the list, or that PaulAsaran isn’t higher. And that I slacked on covering more of Casketbake77 after his spotlight, given how many of his one-shots I’ve got in my Re-Evaluate backlog…
Some of you may remember that, for an intro blurb a few months back, I used Fimfic’s searching filters to see what years of publication fics I'd reviewed were split across. Now I have separate backup bookshelves per year, I can filter it just for those I reviewed in 2023. Which matters, as the overall results were coloured by trends just in 2022. It was more recent-heavy, with all the low-hanging fruit I picked off the feature box, plus judging entries for two contests in that year. 2023, on the other hand…
- 2023: 25 Fics (9.36%)
- 2022: 28 Fics (10.49%)
- 2021: 18 Fics (6.74%)
- 2020: 29 Fics (10.86%)
- 2019: 20 Fics (7.49%)
- 2018: 18 Fics (6.74%)
- 2017: 15 Fics (5.62%)
- 2016: 22 Fics (8.24%)
- 2015: 17 Fics (6.37%)
- 2014: 23 Fics (8.61%)
- 2013: 24 Fics (8.99%)
- 2012: 19 Fics (7.12%)
- 2011: 9 Fics (3.37%)
That’s pretty evenly spread, right? Obviously the site’s algorithm does give recent years a bit of an edge, but 2013, 2014 and 2016 are keeping a decent pace with them. 2011 being so low is easily explainable given how few fics were published then to begin with (and five of those nine comes from my themed week on July 2011, the site’s launch). The rest looks to be just natural small variance, with the possible exception of 2021. And as May of that year was when I started rating fics privately, it means there’s less of it to Re-Evaluate than any prior year. Given they were 41% of reviews, that has an effect.
It can certainly be argued that the sample size is too small to spot proper trends when split across thirteen years (average of 20.54 fics per calendar year), and that will only continue in 2024 with fourteen years to split across. But by and large, your ghost host was unbiased and even in when he read fics from last year. That may change over time, as other fics reviewers have shown that the longer you’re in this business, the more you gravitate away from years you’ve covered many fics from. But we’ll see.
Lastly, some observations by tags in the 2023 bookshelf. The rating split was as follows:
- Everyone: 180 fics (67.42%)
- Teen: 85 fics (31.84%)
- Mature: 2 fics (0.75%)
This is barely any different from 2022, with each rating being within 2%, though I actually didn't review any Mature fics that year. No, I'm not squeamish. 
In terms of series tags, only 20 of the 267 stories weren't FiM-tagged. This spirit likes his fantasy horses without freaky humanoid counterparts or a poorly-connected future generation with social media, yep – that checks out! 
Amazingly, both EqG and Generation Five had exactly 15 stories, though with altogether different patterns, as follows:
- Though EqG had far more stories than the 7 in 2022, this is easily explainable. Two author spotlights (Ninjadeadbeard and Tinybit92) contributed 3 stories each to that. And then, at least 5 of these 15 stories were fully in pony Equestria, but just included the EqG tag for using/referring to its characters. Arguably more, depending on how you stretch the definition. So human horses remain a very hard sell for me; only 3 of those 15 came from the back half of 2023, when I’d tightened my standards further and author spotlights were less likely to squeeze some in.
- Gen 5 was almost the flip of EqG: way down on 2022's 27 stories, and very back loaded, with 10 of the 15 from late September through to the end. Too small a sample size to really pinpoint a trend, but what is a trend is how little of that was derived from post-movie media (which fuelled the 2022 amount on top of featured weeks for the launch of TYT and MYM). While all 15 stories were published after TYT begun in April 2022 (one on that very day
), six were purely based on movie canon and didn’t include any beyond that (and publish date didn’t dictate this), and another two were AUs that used no show canon. Even a healthy chunk of the rest only nodded loosely to show canon.
So, in case there was any doubt, my G5 reading habits have largely settled on what few movie-only fics look worth it, and the odd show-canon fic whose packaging and/or endorsements/author can sell me on it. As the latter will get less frequent with time, and 2024 is bound to have less G5 fics now MYM has ended (TYT not being conducive to fanfic inspiration), look for this year to have even fewer G5 fics. Ditto for EqG, without the author spotlight boosts slipping some past the goalkeeper.
And I’ll cut it short there again: in formatting these stats with lists that made the figures easier to digest (no graphs still, I’m a lazy phantom – don’t act surprised 👻), this post grew overlong too for one blurb, approaching 3K. Nearly as much as the reviews, yikes! 
Next time, this’ll wrap up with the observations on character and genre tags, as well as a little reflective look-back. For now, though, have a quintet of Ponyfics.
This Week’s Spectral Stories:
Why Don't You Tell Them? by Titanium Dragon
Shadow of the Castle by Raugos
Twilight DONE! by Aragon
Imaginary by Thunderbug80
Diminishing Returns by PatchworkPoltergeist
Weekly Word Count: 51,220 Words
Why Don't You Tell Them? by Titanium Dragon
Genre: Drama
Twilight, Celestia
2,174 Words
November 2015Reread
In the aftermath of Twilight’s ascension, it’s all the press across Equestria can talk about, how Celestia turned her into a princess. Which Twilight knows very well isn’t how it happened. Thus, over tea one morning, she asks Celestia why she lets the public believe a falsehood. What harm could come of them knowing Twilight earned her wings of her own accord, after all, and that anypony could become an alicorn?
I’ll give this fic credit, it manages to make a rather light tone for this material work and mostly feel like it’s not just skirting the potential. Part of that is I know of Titanium Dragon’s skills as a writer, of course, but the other aspect comes from it not presenting the usual answers to these questions. Granted, very little reasoning is given behind Celestia’s answers, just vague assurances of what happened when they were open about it, but it manages to mostly fly.
The two other things of minor note are the answers themselves – it manages to be keeping in tone with the show, derived from ponies past’ pursuit of alicornhood causing them to not live life – and that, while this is tantamount to a “talking heads” fic, it is unobtrusively so.
This is, of course, one of those fics where the ideas within is just about all there is to the thing, even executed reasonably as here (and browsing the debate in the comments may boost your enjoyment), and thus while I far prefer the ideas to the norm (basically a 180 on the typical answers that littered 2013 fics, which goes to show distance gives one the clarity to present a better response), that’s about all there is. Worth a read if you want satisfactory responses to the logic of ascension, and keeping it largely hidden from the masses.
Rating: Decent
Shadow of the Castle by Raugos
Genre: Adventure
Twilight, Spike
30,497 Words
December 2013-November 2015Reread
In all the excitement during their misadventure in the Castle of the Two Sisters where her friends got the spooks from all the bells and whistles around the place, Twilight completely forgot to bring back the old Journal of the Sisters she found. Returning the next day with Spike to retrieve in and do a little cataloguing of its vast library of ancient tones, she is very startled to find the castle in a far worse state of disrepair, with cracked architecture, much growth from the Everfree, and horrendous condition where previously it was merely aged. What’s more, all of the signs of them being there yesterday are gone. It’s enough to massively unnerve Spike, and Twilight’s now far behind. But her curiosity gets the better of her, and soon they find themselves not only unable to leave, but in a different castle altogether…
For all I often dunk on “The Cutie Re-Mark”, one thing it did that I really admire was having the courage to scale back to just those of the Mane 7 the story actually needs. Granted, it did so purely because Hasbro didn’t want confusion between the regular Mane 6 and their Alternate counterparts, but the point remains, it allows for a mid-scale adventure that can properly flesh out its ideas, but also not feel the need to adorn the package with extra bells and whistles proportional to the numbers of character present. I also really like the written equivalent, the two-character adventure novella, and this is a solid example of such.
It’s not totally bereft of character development for Twilight, even if it’s not an arc story for her or Spike. But the rapport they display through is quite solid. It’s not the often-highlighted standard of Spike being fully competent, but he has his smart moments that rather impress Twilight, even as he is still a kid prone to getting spooked. Meanwhile, after they start getting into trouble, she is on the right side of cautious and concerned for them both, all without dipping into bland syrupy sentiment or having to overuse her snark to do so. It’s a subtler and more modest showcase of how to write the two in an adventure like this, but no less effective for it.
As for the adventure they get stuck in, there’s enough elements here that numerous tags could have been justified: hefty Mystery elements for much of the first half, along with E-rated Tragedy and a little Drama. While in hindsight the pivoting between these elements isn’t always seamless, in the moment it’s largely quite effective. Helped by the chapter breaks, from the opening uneasiness and rising concern before they get stuck, to the perverse wrongness as they start to digest the reality of the more-pristine castle they find themselves in, to the mysterious librarian at the centre of it all who seems strangely detached from reality, to their initial attempts at escape getting more stuck and uncovering the reality of what’s going on here, fully testing Twilight’s resolve, to a largely-successful-if-slightly-convenient wrap up in the final two chapters (this place’s effect on those who stay too long seems all but forgotten by the epilogue). On at least a first approximation, it’s a sturdy structure, something often missing both from the novella and novella adventures of the Ponyfic world.
On another level, it is also a rather unique way to incorporate a ghost story into the world of FiM in a different register than those springing from Luna or Nightmare Night or even what the Everfree Forest would usually bring. There’s a great freshness here to both the ideas and their execution that made the issues largely forgivable.
This six-chapter novella took Raugos almost two years to finish (two bursts separated by a one-and-a-half-years hiatus, more accurately). With that knowledge, you can see it in places, primarily in much of the major lore only getting introduced or even hinted at after the first two chapters, the story’s structural middle being rather short and largely just an exposition dump, and much of the back half being in a slight hurry to move things along and wrap it all up. That’s only in hindsight though: in the experience of reading it, I more than found this a compelling example of a mid-scale adventure, one simple enough in the quantity of ideas its juggling, contained enough to not need to faff about with excess characters or subplots, and largely distilled down to its core. And even when it errs on the side of being over-brisk, it’s one that’s still able to relax and breathe with character moments. Not a knockout example of the form, but a very satisfying one all the same. Close enough to Really Good that, with a few of the planning and pacing speed bumps smoothed over, it would be that for sure.
Rating: Pretty Good
Twilight DONE! by Aragon
Genre: Comedy (light Alternate Universe)
Twilight, Night Light (plus Mane 6)
3,678 Words
December 2013Reread
Sequel to Daring DONE! – Reviewed here
With the chaos permitted by her letting slip that her mom is the author of Daring Do finally behind her, Twilight feels ready to handle ruling Equestria for a week while the other Princesses seclude themselves to debate on a matter of great importance. Surely this will be fine. Twilight’s mom is busy writing the next book, her friends are in Ponyville, and the princesses can’t muck anything up. She can do this! Right…?
This is less a sequel and more just a continuation of the same mode, of letters where characters get more and more frantic. Primarily between Twilight getting more frazzled as she’s a bystander to the chaos and Night Light, but there are also interludes from Velvet demanding Twilight proofread the 800+ pages she’s written, Twilight’s friends overreacting to her forced seclusion and staging a coup, plus royal guards assuming the worst and also trying to protect. With a few mocked-up newspaper clippings acting as bridges between the fics.
The shorter length and handful of fresh ideas keep it from falling properly victim to diminishing returns, though there is a bit of that. Mostly, even within Aragon’s early mode of screeching comedy, there’s less of a throughline than before – other then complaining about Spike getting sick from all the scroll’s he’s barfing up, Twilight is basically a bystander, and while this juxtaposition is funny at first, it isn’t iterated or evolved upon.
Being written so soon to the original, I didn’t expect an evolution, but I didn’t laugh even as much last time. I suppose the jokes are a bit more expected? Or possibly not pushed as far to being funny as opposed to just absurd. Either way, it’s a reasonable level pack to the first, though a slight step back.
Rating: Passable
P.S. Don’t worry about the Alternate Universe tag, it’s only there to guard against Twilight Velvet being the author of Daring Do (“Daring Don’t” aired the day before this fic was published). Overly cautious, I’d say, but given how explosive the traffic for the fic was, and considering, I’m sure, there was an explosion of fics capitalising on the episode’s disastrous change to canon, I suppose it helped it out for the viewers.
Imaginary by Thunderbug80
Genre: Sad/Slice of Life (Human)
Pinkie, Other
5,473 Words
July 2013Reread
Pinkie’s newest friend is a girl in the human world, Sarah. She’s faced with challenges rather different, and more difficult, than she’s used to. Can Pinkie still cheer her up?
I very much approve that we don’t get the details of how Pinkie can travel from her world to this kid’s closet, Monsters, Inc. style, it lends this a childlike whimsy that this rather sad tale benefits immensely from. For better or for worse, we don’t find out the specifics of what’s ailing this girl, even though Pinkie’s last scene in the fic gives us enough to go on. Those are enough fresh points to make “human down in the dumps cheered up by Pinkie” not as stale as they typically are, to the point of this working reasonably for me, and Human stories are a hard sell for me. It helps that the characterisation of the girl feels appropriate, and the fic doesn’t mug for audience tears until the plot necessitates it (and even then, it’s more subdued and matter-of-fact then melodramatic). Enough details come out about the girl’s life that she doesn’t feel like a placeholder or surrogate either, which helps.
All in all, it is enough of an example of the form that those with a strong opposition to these kinds of fics won’t be swayed. But if you’re willing to give the stronger sets a go, this is worth the read. Even with it being another casualty of my legacy Favourites list.
Rating: Pretty Good
Diminishing Returns by PatchworkPoltergeist
Genre: Drama/Slice of Life
Filthy Rich, Spoiled Rich
9,398 Words
August 2017Reread
In direct continuity with The Silver Standard and What Riches Still Await (Reviewed here)
Spoiled Rich doesn’t cook. Not out of laziness – she very much can – but because it wouldn’t be proper for a pony of her position. So when Filthy Rich comes home from work to find her on her third attempt at a quiche, he’s worried. And it surely can’t be a coincidence this happened on the same day he received a note from his daughter – as opposed to hearing it from her – requesting funds from playground equipment for the Ponyville Schoolhouse. Even though she lost the school election. But before he can work through with Diamond, first he has a wife to massage and console.
Despite the long description saying reading the other stories was highly recommended, if not required, I was still taken aback at how direct and frequent the references were to The Silver Standard. The context isn’t required to get what’s going on – the key points that matter are Filthy’s ex-wife Goldie, how Diamond Tiara continues to adore her even though she was a terrible mother, while being cold to her stepmother Spoiled, and Silver Spoon being from a noble family that recently moved here, and they are stated and inferred enough to be picked up. Everything else is just side lore. But the story has this lore in it quite a lot, and even having read Patchwork’s magnum opus before, at 3+ years removed, there was a fair share of window-dressing I just had to roll with.
Irrespective of reading this being boosted by fresh knowledge of The Silver Standard, it makes for a great companion piece to What Riches Still Await, with the perspective pony flipped and a lot of similar, different and mirrored character parallels between the two. Filthy being just about the only pony who truly adores Spoiled allows for a slightly more generous portrayal of her than what she herself gave in the prior fic. But this doesn’t fall into the trap of making her out to be too golden: the reader has to pay attention, but enough of Spoiled’s behaviour and personality is inferred through the margins that, even as she’s slumping over her inability to connect with Diamond, and quietly voicing how she’s trying to be a good mother but can’t, it’s clear she still treats most of everypony else as peasants.
All the merits of the writing at the micro level there applies here too. The dialogue feels natural and lived-in, and as this fic has more periods of silence with only Filthy’s thoughts, his characterisation being stellar is good (his anecdotes bright some light touches to what can be a heavy read at times). Metaphors abound for the characters’ troubles before they get down to the crux of what matters, and this far into their relationship, both are able to make digs at each other and lapse into comfort habits as they talk and move around the mansion. Their relationship is solid and stable, even if the problems with Diamond are the crux here, and the two together provide a blend of a family that is broken and has problems despite the couple's love being undying.
Truthfully, even apart from this losing a little power without working knowledge of The Silver Standard and barely being a standalone at all, it’s not as solid as What Riches Still Await. A little lagging in the length is only a small quibble off of the dynamic writing, but it being a personal story to the author for exploration reasons does mean that, as good a character study as it is, not a lot happens or progresses. In any case, it more than sells its key points, and once again makes Spoiled Rich engaging and worth reading about while keeping her unsympathetic (not kidding, it’s amazing how well and effortless Patchwork makes this look). It’s no beach read, and works best with working knowledge of The Silver Standard, but it’s immensely satisfying.
Rating: Pretty Good
Spooky Summary of Scores:
Excellent: 0
Really Good: 0
Pretty Good: 3
Decent: 1
Passable: 1
Weak: 0
Bad: 0
In as much as post-movie G5 even had a canon.
Not too surprising on any of the stats. Your reviews have been a good source for me discovering older works, with actual new fics being a slim minority. It makes sense for EQG fics to generally slip into your radar only when piggybacked on something else, and for G5 to get scant attention simply based on your broad look at older works (in addition to the... other issues).
Here's to 2024~
I don't know whether to be flattered or tongue-in-cheek ask what the heck's taking you so long.
Oh, Diminishing Returns! I recall enjoying that one. I also recall being embarrassed when I first read the story and somehow didn't realize it was part of The Silver Standard's continuity until the story was more than half-over.
5763810
And when it does, it's often best to disregard it. As a certain user with a passion for Opaline as not being just a (ineffectual) gaslighter did. And would you look at that, said fic was one of the fifteen!
That's fair. While these are the fun statistics, the surprising ones to do with genre and character tags spilled over into next week. Look forward to that!
Happy to help, bud! It is likely that the smaller my Re-Evaluate backlog gets, and the more I'm reading fics I haven't read before, the more this balance across the years will lean a little newer. Only so much, of course, not least for older years having far more fics than newer ones, and less characters/aspects of canon that are a turn-off for me. We'll see.
Or with a good endorsement. In one especially kooky instance, when I reviewed FoME's Who We Are in the Dark, there were several comments saying they saw the title and expected a fic of the same name that starred Adagio. It was rare for me to get that many endorsements of a same fic together like that, so despite it not being for me, I read it, and while I didn't adore adore it the way many did, it got a Really Good. Instances like that will still do the trick.
I didn't think about that, actually, even though that fact was right under my non-existent nose.
In 2022, it was counterbalanced by "new gen, let's give it a look in!" syndrome, and that still had some effect here. But it'll only get smaller going forward.
Wow! So many fics I've already read! I haven't gotten to the TD one yet, but I have a strong suspicion that I know what the point of it is.
5763810
i.ibb.co/vJC86kW/No-They-Did-Not.jpg
Nice to see Patchwork Poltergeist's continuity popping up again. They genuinely make sympathetic characters out of canon baddies without redeeming them or giving them justified motivations for being that way. It's a tricky thing to get right, but Patchwork manages it admirably.
5763824
I do like the idea of Opaline getting a good headcanon-assisted redemption arc, though I suppose it would be on me to write it. :p
5763818
At the risk of stroking your ego further, since you had three fics covered in 2022, you're tying with Blueshift, Loganberry, 8686 and Mica for 2nd place as regards authors with the most reviewed fics who have never been spotlighted, at 6 (FoME is 1st there with 7 fics). And honestly, given a hefty chunk of your fics wouldn't appeal to me for varying reasons (for being EqG, older dark stuff, longfics I wouldn't choose over many others on the backlog, or tied up in Bulletproof Heart, etc.) that's still doing very well.
Eh, when you read in the five digits of fanfic on the daily, there are worse slips to make. Though it is a little ironic coming from the author who will regularly call out fics for not including clearly what they're a sequel to/how they're franchise-connected to others in their author's Verse.
5763833
Me too, Lyra.
5763833
Is it my fault you're read tons of fics due to being
oldaround the fandom for 11+ years?Such fics aren't the easiest (or the most fun) to talk about without giving the whole game away, are they?
That said, I meant it when I said it was more intelligent than most fics in its story type.
You'll appreciate/laugh/facepalm (pick as appropriate) that not only do I remember you having used that exact image as a reply in the comments round here last year, but I pegged what the image was here not just before opening it, but before even reading the quote in the URL preview.
5763845
Well, I hate to be predictable (or telegraph my shots), but it's a rarely inapropriate response when discussing G5.
5763834
Patchwork's quality with writing those characters (among other writing strengths) is impeccable, enough that I trust pretty much any story she writes long as it doesn't have factors of personal interest that are very hard sells for me (e.g. her two human fics, a Nightmare Moon timeline fic, etc.). It is a pity that the insurmountable length of The Silver Standard means I'm not likely to ever review it, but as regards fics with her take on the Rich family, I can at least cover Menace to Propriety in the near future. Which I recall to be another winner.
5763841
Clearly, I was not paying attention to the cover page that time around. Oh, the shame!
5763847
I assume you mean unimpeachable?
Like you, I find The Silver Standard to be so daunting in length that I've never taken it on, but I did read (and really enjoy) the first chapter when it first came out. Menace to Propriety, as I recall, is in a similar bin for me. I read the first 2 chapters, which was all that had been published when I first encountered it, but I never finished it. Though it's not actually very long...
5763856
Though "unimpeachable" would have worked too.
I actually meant "impeccable".
And also, I have read The Silver Standard (this fic would have lost me a lot more otherwise). This was just about a potential reread and ever getting to look at it here.
Ah yes. I've seen your statement around of almost never reading fics longer than 20K due to time/patience with satisfactory payoff. All I'll say is, given in nearly every review of Patchwork's Rich family fics I've found, I've spied a comment from you on the quality of said fics, it'll be worth it if you can ever justify the time for that remaining 32K (or 44K, if you start over). That's not a jab, I know the difficulty sometimes of even squeezing in fics of that length.
5763858
It's not an issue of worrying the payoff in finishing a story won't be good enough. It's more that I've got enough other things going on that I'm not willing to invest that kind of time into it, at the expense of getting through EqD story submissions, since I have a fixed amount I'm willing to spend on ponyfic. Most long stories I do read were such submissions, but either there were only a few chapters at the time of submission (which I would have read all of, but then didn't keep up with the story afterward) or only read a few of the first chapters to convince myself the quality was consistent and I could trust the author that the rest was good.
5763860
Give me some credit. 
Oh, I know all of that. That's why I referred to time in my comment. I even have committed to memory the part about you not going back to read more chapters after an update past when you approved it, or only looking at a few to pass it in to begin with. Come on, Pascoite, I know you well enough on that front by now.
All I meant was, I know the odds of you reading the rest of it are very small purely for your time management reason, but if you ever did do so, it won't feel like a waste of time. Wasn't trying to prod you into it, just stating the above.
Huh. I was bracing for some stern criticism, but you gave Shadow of the Castle a better rating than I expected.
It was quite some time ago, so I barely remembered the details of the plot, aside from it being written when I was in my phase of wanting every story I wrote to be part of a consistent 'verse. It was meant to be a sendoff for a character from my first story on Fimfic. Foggy memories got me worried that I was going to get an earful about focusing too much on lore and worldbuilding instead of the characters.
Reading it again was a pleasant trip down memory lane, so thanks for that. I'm relieved to find that you enjoyed it, too.
I can definitely see the bit about the exposition dump and the quick pacing towards the end; after a hiatus like that, I think I was worried about losing whatever momentum and motivation I had rediscovered to finish it.
5763985
Possibly my enjoyment level of the focussed adventure novella with just a few character is showing. But I really did find the fic to have the goods. Not gonna blow one away, and the issues can't be ignored, but it works, and quite consistently. Doesn't hurt that it's no less readable now than it was 8-10 years ago either.
Well, it didn't feel obviously connected nor did I feel like there were some crucial facts or character details I was missing out on, so you did this more than fine.
Ooh, reread the 30K again off this review triggering some memories, eh? There's worse way to spend two hours!
This is totally fair, and I think every viewer will take those minor hurdles over the fic having being stuck on two chapters, or only getting part of the way to completion before you lost interest again.