Fic recs, December 6th! · 7:14pm Dec 6th, 2024
Good morning, I feel like shit x_x; Have some stories
with a weird rating distribution o_o
H: 4 R: 1 C: 4 V: 0 N: 0
Please don't do this by Kodeake
Genre: Horror
What lies beyond the boundaries of reality?
I'm not sure what everyone's tolerance for textual gimmicks is, and this uses a lot of them, from the right-justified insets to Zalgo text. Actually, it's the first one that I liked the most, if only because it acts a lot more weirdly than I would have guessed it would. I wonder how much effort it took to line everything up. As for the story, it's fun meta horror, so if you don't mind a little Zalgo in your ponyfic, definitely check this one out.
Recommended for Horror Fans
Twilight Had a Pony for Dinner by SparklingTwilight
Genre: Dark/Thriller
Don't scribble in library books.
YO, this is how you write a fucking story! :O A thousand-word thriller that actually thrills? Each paragraph has a scene break after it, sometimes it's just a single word, and the space allows each to say far more than what is printed on the page. Beyond that, this is filled with wordplay, alliteration, you name it, plus a ponified take on the turducken that I am pointing out in this review because it was the one bit that kind of tripped me up in the moment. But wow, this is really something, this is rare! Quite an excellent work!
Highly Recommended
Asynchronous by danatron1
Genre: Sad/Horror
All it takes is a fraction of a second.
Oh my god, you guys. This is such a fantastic take on the Where Is Everybody? style story, in which a brief instance of displacement in time leaves Apple Bloom… Well, shit, I'm not gonna describe it for you, this is a thousand words, go read it! It's such a unique and creative approach to the premise as laid out in the description, and I could see it being expanded into a much longer story. Already better than Background Pony
Highly Recommended
Everything Will Be Alright! by RB_
Genre: Dark/Historical
Marigold was a pony once.
This is an interesting bit of weirdness taking place during the first reign of Discord. It finds a good reason to use a colored text gimmick, not that there's much to it, but it certainly adds something to the overall presentation. Mostly, this is just about what living under Discord was like for one specific pony, how she dealt with it, and how she was probably thoroughly losing her mind. Like, past the point where she even would notice she was. Fun!
Recommended for Discord Fans
The Right Pony by RB_
Genre: Not Romance
Rising Hope makes a little wager with Flurry Heart.
Interesting setup here, with a grown-up Flurry Heart training under her dad with a bunch of other military recruits. Kinda wish we could've dug more into that, but it's a thousand word contest entry. What's here works, though. And if you want to know why all the downvotes, it's because Flurry is asexual. Like, that's basically the whole story. :B Haters gonna hate.
Recommended for Flurry Heart Fans
Sex Is Bad and You Should Feel Bad by anonpencil
Mature: Sex, Fetish
Genre: 2P AiE Sexual Comedy
Everyone knows it but you.
You know something is up when I actually want to read a story with all those tags. <_< The title helps a lot. But also, we all know what kind of goofy-ass Anon stories anonpencil writes, and by golly this is another one! Tongue is firmly in cheek here (note: insert sexual innuendo later), and I laughed through the whole thing. I think it also speaks to something or other, probably, I don't know. :) Good times.
Recommended If You Enjoy Sexual Comedies
Salmon Run by mushroompone
Genre: Experimental
It's time to go.
This is an absolutely fascinating piece, the hopeful, light mirror image of a horror fic I read once, many years ago. I'm not even going to give you a hint of an explanation of what's going on, simply because the opening and ending poems perfectly set up a comparison, and it would insult your intelligence to spell it out.
Highly Recommended
Phantom Limb by The Red Parade
Sequel to Salmon Run
Genre: Drama/Romance
...But what if you can't?
Something to be said for Salmon Run is that a lot of people are going to be upset that there isn't a clear answer to "what's going on?" by the end. I mean, it's obvious to me that defining this happening is not what mushroompone was going for, but I know very well that some readers just can't be satisfied with that. Seeing that there was an 'official' sequel written by another author, I had a slight concern that answers might be what would be gone for, but thankfully, The Red Parade understood the assignment and is simply exploring the base concept from a wholly new angle. An angle that I absolutely cannot talk about because I really don't want to spoil the original, so you're just gonna have to trust me that this is really good and clever. It's not the same kind of story, for all that it also sets up comparisons via poetry, and yes, it's FiddleDust, because Red Parade wrote it. :P I could see this being a jumping-off point for a shared AU, but that would also be missing the point, I think. The last line is haunting as hell.
Highly Recommended
Ah'm Potato by Silent Whisper
Sequel to Salmon Run
Genre: Crackfic
Do you know what happens to salmon after they migrate?
So of course we couldn't round out this batch of stories without including a silly one. Do yourself a favor and read the whole description before you get into this; I find the other authors' reactions to this story every bit as gratifying as the story itself. And as for the story itself? Absolutely the kind of thing I would write, though I'm not sure I mean that as a compliment. XD Dumb in all the right ways, fiendishly clever in all the others. It's hilarious, and it puts a perfect little bow on top of the black box that is Salmon Run. Highly Troll Recommended
Recommended
Hmm, the only one of these on my RiL list at the moment is Everything Will Be Alright! I might have to look at a few others, not least the other RB_ story.
Really unsure about Salmon Run. I'll be honest, stories that make a virtue of being obscure and not explaining anything are something I've become increasingly tired of in the last few years. But mushroompone is a fantastic writer whose stuff I've really liked a lot of. So do I make an exception? Hmm...
Awh, thank you for the review!! There's a few Salmon Run diehards in my little group of friends, and I know they'll be thrilled to see that it (and its extended universe) got some recognition :)
What I love about Phantom Limb is that it totally "got" the point of the original and built on it in an unexpected but beautiful way. What I love about Ah'm Potato is that it also totally got the point, and made a concerted effort to shit directly onto it, as all the best satire does. I do hope to one day grow this little world/event with another installation someday. Maybe I'll have to move that project up my list ^^
Thank you for the reviews! You seem to be working your way through my 1k entries from last year, which is a little embarrassing because I’m not super proud of most of them. Everything Will Be Alright is probably my favourite of the bunch, though, even if the gimmick is a bit shallow. I do think my entries for this year’s contest were substantially better, if you ever happen to get around to those. Maybe that’s just because my emotional connection to them has had less time to cool though.
Regardless, thanks for reading
*hug* hope you feel less like shit asap.
Some months ago, I crossed paths with "Twilight Had a Pony for Dinner." And it's clearly the work of an actual writer, not just some word-ejaculating internet motherfucker. BUT. In my opinion, the story's "horror" tag is misleading (I notice your review doesn't refer to it as horror, either), with the playful, flamboyant writing style making "THPD" a black comedy. Comedy horror? Maybe... but I'm not sure I'd even go that far.
5819721
your reaction to Ah'm Potato is seriously half the reason I loved it XD I need more friend goofs like this!
5819748
the day has gradually improved, but not without struggle :B
5819773
good point, actually! :O
5819799
I agree!! And I think I ought to share the other (published) fics from the same event:
AFAIK, these are the only ones that were published here. Each sequel is wonderfully weird and hilarious in its own way, and each original story makes for a great read all by itself. Maybe it's simply because I know these people so well, but I feel like the friendship we share comes through. It was a really fun project ^^ sadly, many of the pieces were so off-the-wall they could never be legitimately published on site - if it were my place to share them, I would! There were some real gems.
Anyway! If the mood for another serious fic/absolutely shitstorm pairing strikes you again, you may enjoy these
Hope you're feeling better!
5819879
excellent >:)
Thank you for expressing your enjoyment of the piece!
5819773
Thank you for expressing your enjoyment.
It is not easy, but I try! Perhaps one might even say... "There are many a pony here today who look on writing as all glory, but, ponies, it is all hell. -- Wagon Tacksomething(named after a famous Buffalo Chieftess) Sherstallion"
Re: the story's tagging.:
The tags, the tags. This story, my most controversial 
, was so difficult to tag. I spent significant time, despair, and angst on the tagging. 
It originally had a "Mystery" tag... but I have come to suspect many people have a... particular view that stories should conform to a... classic conception of "mystery." Personally, I spit on Van Dine's rules (in a resentful way...and to discurse further--I resent I need to explain the tone but somehow a certain meme has hocked its way back up to us all...) and do not think too much of Agatha Christie or Dorothy Sayers. 
So! I swapped that out for Thriller (PP's write-up convinced me), since the function of tags here is to help someone find something they expect to find (and we can only have three genre tags).
Dark Comedy is valid! But, like the original Mystery tag, it might be a bit of a surprise for some as it is more understated dark comedy along the lines of Fargo than Addams Family. I do appreciate the thought, though!
If you or PP would ever like other recommendations from my catalogue, feel free to send me a Private Message.
5819944
Funnily enough, I became aware of that quote AFTER coming up with my name. Actually, what I came up with was "It's All Hell" - but Fimfiction wouldn't let me include a fuckin' apostrophe...
Get... that... shit... out of your own face, Sparkles. 🙂 Other people's views, expectations, etc. are the enemy of one's artistic vision - such things only ever impede the purity of its expression, even if they, at times, improve the art.
5819879
There's also Zontan's The Kingdom Of Heaven, a sequel to my Passion.
I should definitely publish mine at some point too. A good round of shitty sequels between friends is always a good time.
<3
5820149
I appreciate the support, and this is a fair argument for each story itself (the balance weighing in favor of art v. commercial appeal); however, the balance probably weighs in favor of commercial appeal v. art in marketing--even though the "ad-copy" itself for each story can be (and in many cases IS) artistic itself.
Usually, I think, the balance should weigh in favor of attracting people to one's story who want to read a story of the type they were expecting to find--if not, then we would miss out on the useful guide-path of being able to efficiently locate a "romance" or "mystery" section in a library and would need to spend an enormous amount of time evaluating whether something might appeal.
(Still there's room for the caveat of comedy in the tags, or trickery in some situations.) 