Ghost Mike's Ponyfic Review Monday Musings #117 · 5:00pm Jun 10th, 2024
Technically it hasn’t been that long since my last Author Spotlight, just over two months. But the rough three-month gap is just a guideline meant to make them only happen when natural and justified. If I’m liking an author’s work enough to want to read more and do a spotlight, that’s proof enough it’s organic. Today’s author certainly qualifies, off charming work that always brightened me up. The author being, Kris Overstreet.
While no early Fimfiction lifer, Kris has still been writing for a long time, since 2015 (I'm omitting two early 2013 fics very different from what he writes, being effectively abandoned crossovers). There’s a few things quickly apparent about his work. He doesn’t have that many fics for an account that old, at only twenty-seven. He likes injecting sci-fi into his pony works, or at least his more successful fics, largely of the space-trotting kind, though not without forgetting the light tone common to most of his works. And while most of his fics are short comedies, his two most successful fics are a pair of space exploration doorstop novels, Changeling Space Program and The Maretian, both over 300K in length and both with over 25K views to their name too.
Obviously even apart from how hard sci-fi is as a sell for me in Ponyfic (though his approach is preferable to the more gritty and technology-focused stuff), I could never look at fics that long. So this spotlight, like some before, is already running the risk of not representing what the author is really known for. But, given Kris packaged nearly all his other stories into a physical ponyfic, they qualify as a representative sampler.
The main thing apparent from both his two fics I’d read before (The Dover Boys in the Forest, or a Pest in Ponyville, reviewed in #24, and Blown Together: a Night Light & Twilight Velvet Adventure, reviewed in #40) as well as these five, is that he works hard at the details behind his lighthearted comedy fics. Both to give them sustenance and make the characters ring true, but also in the background research of the topic used for the fic, making it accessible and enjoyable to the masses while also accurate for those in the know. Gotta admire that! Couple that with a general easy affability and charm, and even when the works are modest, they were pleasing in a way I enjoyed more than some “better” fics.
While I’m not sure how active he is now, off his recent upload schedule (during the 2020s, he went eighteen months without any fics or chapters, then another seven month break after seven fics in a year, and nothing since December last year), his work charmed me enough that I can see myself reading more of his short legacy one-shots semi-regularly going forward. Not all author spotlights have achieved wanting to come back, so that’s achievement enough! See how you feel on that front after looking at these five.
This Week’s Spectral Stories:
For Love of the Love of the Game by Kris Overstreet
4:37 AM by Kris Overstreet
Methane, She Pinkie by Kris Overstreet
My Flight by Kris Overstreet
Seneschal by Kris Overstreet
Weekly Word Count: 34.368 Words
For Love of the Love of the Game by Kris Overstreet
[No Cover Image]
Genre: Comedy
Rarity
5,480 Words
March 2018
Rarity’s father Hondo has been a pro footballer for a long time. And now, in what may well be the last game of his career, he’s playing in the Super Drome championship against the formidable Canterlot Suns. He’s determined to give it his all. That is, until a back injury leaves him unable to play. And that would be the end of his story… until Rarity, always indifferent to the game but never not supportive of her dad throughout the years off all he did for her passion, rises to the occasion with a scheme so crazy, it just might work. Or cement the Detrot Lions as further failures off her filling her father’s helmet.
In a marvellous coincidence of fate, I read this the day before the 2024 Superbowl. Yes, I am that ignorant about NFL, from across the Atlantic, that I only realised this fact right at the fic’s end. Spooky, no? 👻
Often fics like this with the Comedy tag can feel a little underwhelming in that department, and for the first half, this kind of was. It trafficks in a sort of ironic detachment from the material, almost like newsreel announcers or sports commentators but without the actual narration. A tight pace keeps it afloat, as do colourful characters and dialogue unnervingly committed to realising American Football in the world of Equestria, but it’s more of a charming slice of life-er that skims over the sentiment (by intent, we don’t really get a bead inside Rarity’s head except for the rare humorous observation) than anything.
Then the game starts, Rarity gets her “So You Have Chosen Death” moment, and it’s off to the races. The choices made in how to show and imply the following chaos are ingenious and really make it all the funnier. Imagine the written equivalent of the silent movie technique of physical blows being funnier filmed from further away, and you’re part of the way there. From the slow reactions of the Lions’ ageing coach to the Suns’ star donkey player trying and failing to keep his team together, it goes for an approach of brevity that really pays off. And the coda of Rarity reaping what she got from her actions as her father remains blissfully immune to it all seals the deal.
This fic does not hold back in the use of American Football terminology, position names, shorthand for tactics, and more. And as someghost who has trouble keeping his attention on real football or GAA, the second half of this fic that’s on the game itself frequently had me scratching my head. Thankfully, even when going between lines of dialogue or recaps of gameplay, Kris Overstreet keeps it breezy and focused more on the net result of how Rarity, and later the opposition, are reacting personally. So while some sentences needed a reread for clarity on my end, it never outright lost me. The quick pace of the game (it has no less than three scene cuts) helps with this. So while the fic didn’t convert me to watching NFL or anything (note that rewatching Pixar’s Cars a few years ago and reading about the accuracy of the races got me to look up some NASCAR footage of The Big One in action), it more than worked. Heh, better not tell my brother that, he actually watches it a decent bit.
As improbable sport comedies goes, a finesse of pacing and delivery more than carry this through the game barrier. And if you actually know your American football, you’ll find it a hoot. This is almost like an Estee fic but if it were less bogged down in the cynicism of the world details while still very much having it present, and as someone who finds said cynicism tips Estee’s quality writing to something I tolerate more than enjoy, I welcome that quite a bit.
Rating: Pretty Good
4:37 AM by Kris Overstreet
Genre: Comedy
Starlight Glimmer
1,000 Words
May 20223rd Place in Humour in the first Thousand Words content
Some fog-like anomaly has enwrapped Ponyville, and while Twilight and the other Elements sort it out, all the farmers on the town’s outskirts need somewhere safe to stay. As does their livestock. What with the Friendship Castle being as underused as it’s always been, soon Starlight is putting up forty-three ponies, eighteen cows, eleven pigs and three goats. Plus a single rooster that, in her wisdom and with no direct farm experience, she puts it up in her own room.
This story manages the feat of easing the reader in, then snapping the focus sharp to its comedic premise, then finishing with its final punchline, all in a thousand words, and without the lurching pacing feeling out of place. That leaves Kris able to go to town both with how Starlight’s reckless personality is perfect for developing friction against this obnoxious rooster, and playing into the inconsistency in canon with how sentient/sapient Equestrian livestock is. We get snapshot of its thoughts and reactions to Starlight yelling at it, and they are glorious, possibly some of the funnier things those animals have produced this side of Foghorn Leghorn.
I can very easily see why this won the Bronze place for Humour in the inaugural Thousand Words content. It’s not transcendent nor does it escape the slightness that pervades nearly all stories of this length, but it uses that format quite well for its goals and executes the chaos of the end result with well-timed aplomb. A jolly good one for a quick chortle, especially for being funnier via injecting some (due) nastiness.
Rating: Pretty Good
Methane, She Pinkie by Kris Overstreet
Genre: Sci-Fi, Slice of Life
Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Fluttershy
14,264 Words
March 2023
This planet populated by mysterious quadrupeds in all manner of colours certainly has a lot of things Tinat has never seen before. Sure, a totally different biological makeup and surface temperature to what is normal for his species forbids him from even stepping out onto its surface, but he can covertly monitor it via probes. That is, until a pink-coated one of the strange creatures finds his covertly hidden spaceship, and insists on throwing a welcome party for her ‘new friend’. Language barrier and totally different biochemical makeup be darned. Being discovered meaning he has to flee, according to official protocol, seems a minor problem now…
Kris is overwhelmingly known for writing sci-fi Ponyfic (only 5 of his 27 published fics, granted, but it includes his two doorstop novels with viewing figures north of 25K each), so despite such a genre being a really hard sell for me, I couldn’t not include something under that label here. In picking this fic, a digestible length certainly helped make this one stand out among the eligible one-shots, and its content placement didn’t hurt, but it fully integrating itself into the show-tone of Pinkie, and feeling like a slice of life with some sci-fi rather than the other way around (so, the Lilo & Stitch approach to sci-fi 
) was the clincher that made me pick it, for (hopefully) not feeling too weird and alienating as sci-fi can often feel when applied to MLP.
Well, that’s pretty much what this is, though with a high level of crafts for its modest goals. And not all of the goals are modest – the fic is quite devoted to having the background science of much of it feel authentic, from the alien’s early observations at such things like oxygen-breathing lifeforms, and the reverse like himself having a basis in reality, through to Pinkie’s ravenous hunt for food he can digest. The end Author’s Note explaining it all goes overboard (I understand the impulse), but the rest of this is used quite effectively to boost either the comedy-of-errors humour, or the resonance of Pinkie’s goals.
That is the main achievement here, it’s depiction of Pinkie. All the more remarkable considering very few scenes are from her perspective; if we’re not with the alien, we’re typically with Twilight or Dash observing her, and on a few occasions, Fluttershy’s animals, for one of the more amusing subplots (it’s not as random as it sounds). Yet it gets Pinkie, threading her to be neither stupid nor annoying, just intensely focused on her goals of making others happy. For starters, the typical beat of her not listening to the alien’s “I’d die out there, and you in here” warning doesn’t lead to her forgoing and breaking it. No, she fully accepts it, if sadly, even though it means no hugs or physical content.
That approach is really present for everything, from the nuanced depictions of Dash (steadfast and stubborn, but not breaking Pinkie’s wishes), Twilight and Fluttershy, to the subtle but effective way Pinkie’s optimism and friendship rub off on the alien when all is said and done. Toss in some other fun comedy elements that get a good workout, from early translator mishaps until the alien successfully scans enough Equestrian literature to inform his ship’s translator what to properly say, to the alien’s frustrated illogic at things like how days work differently here than on his Titan-like home planet, and you have a very charming and effective low-key story of first contact. One not any worse off for the lack of conflict, when it just lives and breathes with the characters as they are.
Rating: Pretty Good
My Flight by Kris Overstreet
Genre: Comedy/Slice of Life
Comedy/Slice of Life
4,094 Words
February 2016
Cherry Berry may love cherries, and she may have her cutie mark in them, but they’re not her talent nor her passion. No, for that, you have to look to flying, something not a lot of ponies know. Sure, they know she runs a balloon service and sometimes flies a helicopter around town. But that she’s saving up bits to make some even grander for her flying ambitions? Well, they’re about to find out, with all the ponies she’s asking for spare parts and doing odd jobs for…
Obviously I was never going to look at Kris’ doorstop novel Changeling Space Program for this spotlight, but once I copped on that was Cherry Berry in said fic’s cover art (his profile pic too, don’t’cha know), it felt fitting to instead pick this early one shot about the character. Given he clearly cherishes her quite dearly. This may also be a loose prequel to that fic…? They’re not connected, but the TV Tropes page for the novel and its properly-connected fic does have this too.
In any case, what we have in front of us is a light and breezy tale bouncing between scenes of Cherry talking to all of the Mane 6 for parts or advice (well, Fluttershy’s segment is really with Bon Bon, but she makes a cameo – it might be the scene of those two blocking the bridge in “Putting Your Hoof Down”…?). These scenes do a good job bouncing around the characterisation bits of said ponies, indulging in easy but amusing jokes, as one would expect from an early fic.
That leaves mostly just a growing fascination with what Cherry is making plus her personality herself, and they’re equally immersive. She’s basically her name, a bubbly sort who is nonetheless quite committed to what she’s making, despite the dangers of flying without magic (as comes to light when with Twilight). The end result of her taking flight with her new machine doesn’t not go for awe, but it doesn’t exactly bask in it either, even before indulging with a corny fandom ending joke.
A rather simple fic, and occasionally a bit muddled and clunky (the use of lines from the poem that inspired this, “High Flight”, as scene introductions, mostly just peters out to no real effect). But it’s jolly, good natured and sincere, which is a great place for any author to be at early in their writing career.
Rating: Decent
Seneschal by Kris Overstreet
Genre: Drama/Sad
Celestia
9,530 Words
November 2019
Having to banish Luna crushed Celestia emotionally. Thus, once the immediate aftermath of the fallout was sorted and the kingdom could function again, Celestia left the running of the kingdom to the grandson of her departed friend Princess Platinum. Other than occasional diplomatic appearances, Celestia stays in her room, mourning privately. That is, until an ordinary earth pony scribe plucks up the courage to ask her why Celestia is letting Prince Pyrite run Equestria the way he is. Finding out these details snaps Celestia from her stupor enough to realise that, in her mourning, she’s let twenty-four years pass, and Equestria is almost unrecognisable.
In this rather dramatic piece (quite a departure from the rest of this spotlight, but I feel it’s always good to show an author doing something beyond their “norm” if possible), there’s some very elegant, classical structural craftsmanship at play. You have Celestia finding out that the not-so-young-anymore Prince has been fleecing the lower classes through taxes for all they’re worth, her fury at how far it goes, and her taking steps to set it right. Then there’s her mourning at Luna and the crisis of confidence that’s caused her, especially when her fury makes her further fear that she might descend much as Luna did into darkness (her mane flares up Daybreaker style on a few occasions).
The fusion successfully combats the common issues to both: the deeper self-examination and healing gives depth and meaning to the wider plot concerning the nation, while having that keeps the character story from being a plotless one-scene reflection that is interesting but doesn’t do much. Especially when Celestia goes undercover for a week far from Canterlot, hearing what the common ponies are saying on the matter, and then has her faith tested in private on a mountain top… it’s very much the work of someone doing a slower character piece but applying his lessons from faster and plottier work to make it, in many ways, better for it.
There’s plenty else to like about this, of course. The intrusion of Luna’s past words in Celestia’s head, plus when she envisions Nightmare Moon would say in response to this, are well-done and not overused. The side lore of Equestria’s history (origins for Nightmare Night and even Las Pegasus are tricked in throughout), plus the main OCs being loose counterparts to Blueblood and Raven, infuses it with further energy. And Celestia’s musing on what to do, plus her final diplomatic solution, is very fitting and satisfying.
It is not, perhaps, all that emotionally potent – the tradeoff of a denser plot and (somewhat) faster pace than is usual for character mourning pieces – and one does need to accept that Celestia could have been unaware of this for twenty-four years (it didn’t bother me, and a timescale of that length is needed, but it does place a ceiling on the direct immersion into the scenario). And the tight focus on Celestia’s perspective does make the scenes more directly shared with other characters (especially when the Prince gets his comeuppance) more mechanical. But it more than achieves its goals with aplomb, and as a demonstration of something dramatic from one who normally does faster and lighter work, it’s a keeper.
Rating: Pretty Good
Yes, I am aware of the irony of having four fics in this author spotlight score effectively borderline Pretty Good/Really Good ratings, and erring on the lower side for all of them. Don’t think I’m not choking on it – I wanted all of them to inch over, but couldn’t quite pull the trigger on it. 
Just foregrounding that for the few folks who take the rating as an absolute rather than read the actual review to see what they might make of it.
Spooky Summary of Scores:
Excellent: 0
Really Good: 0
Pretty Good: 4
Decent: 1
Passable: 0
Weak: 0
Bad: 0
The ratings clump is interesting. I went and checked, and I've read several of Kris's fics, and marked them all down as solid three-star stories. Good, competently written, and dependably enjoyable. I can appreciate the consistency.
Interesting, you picked almost all stories by Kris I haven't read. Although in my defense, I do try to maintain that "one story per author" rule in my schedule and said schedule has been bottlenecked by the (very good) CSP franchise. Perhaps someday I shall do my own Overstreet spotlight.
Never had occasion to read anything by him, except for one that was an entry in the FimFic Feghoot Festival, since I was a judge. I did like that one.
5785684
Yeah, he had quite a few feghoot fics, I noticed. Which only shortened my range of choices further – feghoots don't agree with me, and even when they do, they're very hard to review beyond making non-spoilers assessments of whether the final bad pun works. Still, neat to hear the one you read worked,
5785683
Well, given the two CSP novels have over 26K views each, and the highest any of these five hit in views is 3.8K (and the other four are just 2.8K, 2K, and 1.1K twice), that does reinforce my theory of him being an author overwhelmingly known for one (or, well, two) works despite having written quite a bit.
While I always do adhere to reading what I want to, and thus am not as hard as yourself on spacing an author's stories out – certainly not to the six-or-so months your schedule is mapped out at any given point – I do try, spotlights excepted, to leave a three-month gap if I can. In cases where there's too many stockpiled reviews by the same author, and a spotlight isn't an option, I may shorten it, but no closer than a month since their last story.
For what it's worth, reading your review of it, CSP does sound more up my alley than most sci-fi Pony fics, but geez, that length… I've got so many other novels I want to read/reread as much or more, there's no competing with that right now.
5785681
As can I. I hesitate to use the phrase "comfort food", but there is something to be said for knowing what you're getting in quality, while still being able to be surprised by the content.
5785695 Read Counting Noses. If you like that tone, then you'll like the non-sciency parts of CSP.
5785705
Duly noted. Though I actually rather like sci-fi quite a bit – I just find it's near-always a terrible fit with Pony. As many people have expressed elsewhere, of course. But there are exceptions. And… well, your fics' view count can't be altogether wrong.
Slightly surprised that's all you had to say here, nothing on the fact of getting a spotlight, the choice of fics, how you feel about these five nowadays. You know, what virtually anyone who's gotten one of these has done.
Hope you enjoyed all this anyway!
5785710 The only other thing I'd say would be along the lines of following in the footsteps of the great Greek philosopher, Mediocrites. :)
5785688 I think I only wrote two for the Feghoot contest backalong, and I haven't written any others specifically for the purpose of writing feghoots. Although there was one I wrote for the Infinite Loops where Celestia reveals that her incantation to raise the sun is: "Rise, darn you."
Because, as you know, it's always darkest before the darn.
I admit I'm surprised you didn't tackle their flagship Changeling Space Program, but I can well see that a story like that is a commitment and a half.
5785725
Obviously that ain't happening.
Exactly that. Considering I can only manage one sub-100K novel a month, to cover something of its length would mean two or three months having no novels covered at all!
Plus, at that length, one does primarily want to read things they know will scratch their personal itch on top of being quality. Ponies in space is… well, nothing against it, but there's ain't an itch for it on this phantom.
Heh, the only one of these I've looked at is 4:37 AM, which I gave, you've guessed it, three stars! So iisaw, you and me all seem to be broadly on a level in how we feel about KO's stories. I must read more of them to be sure, though for similar reasons to you I doubt Changeling Space Program is happening any time soon!
5785729
Same. Happily, the inspiration very politely makes clear from the start if it's up one's alley or not.
EDIT: Well, I did cheat and peruse a few chapters including the end, which was extremely well done.
Re-reading the review of "For Love of the Love of the Game," I feel the need to explain the climax of the game.
The Detrot Lions win because they score a safety- this is when the team holding the ball downs it (stops progress on a play) in their own end zone (or, in this case, out the back of it).
The ways to score in American football:
TOUCHDOWN - 6 pts (get any part of the ball across the line of the opponent's end zone while you possess the ball, or complete a pass into the end zone)
(EXTRA POINT - 1 pt (one attempt after a touchdown to kick the ball between the goal uprights))
(CONVERSION - 2 pt (one attempt after a touchdown to score a touchdown, only this time it's worth less))
FIELD GOAL - 3 pts (one attempt at any time you possess the ball, other than after a touchdown, to kick it between the goal uprights)
SAFETY - 2 pts (when the other team, in possession of the ball, ends the play behind their own end zone line; they also have to kick the ball to you afterwards)
Safetys are rare, for obvious reasons, and having a safety scored on you is a major humiliation. It basically means that every part of your team's offense failed so utterly that you couldn't even punt the ball away to the other end of the field. So when the game ends (for all practical purposes) by Rarity terrorizing the opponent with the ball into fleeing through the back of his own end zone, it means that her domination of that entire team is complete and total.
5792844
What’s this? Over a month after the fact, after reacting with total apathy and indifference to getting five of his fics surprise reviewed (on a level surpassed only by the Poshes of the world), doing none of the customary “response to my analysis” on any of them that people customarily do, not even getting all excited and flustered and showing much gratitude, Kris Overstreet returns to comment again on this Author Spotlight? Does this mean he is doing just that as a much later date…?
…Oh. Just further clarification as to something he perceived me potentially missing with said clarification, delivered as flatly as before.
[I tease, a bit. Only somewhat, but it’s there. I treasure every comment, well and truly. Even the joke ones.]
I do appreciate the stating of some rules of American Football (most of those scoring types I instantly recognised off their rugby equivalents, but not all). In any case, while I may not have known the ruling of a safety, I got that Rarity has basically spooked the opposition into fleeing back down the pitch like scared babies, and this effort netted her team a few points for the win. So fret not, the humour and emotional effect landed pat!