A story worth checking out · 3:25pm Jun 2nd, 2013
I'm not really one for changeling stories. They're a lot like Human in Equestria stories, in my opinion: there's been so many of them that I feel the idea was overused long ago. And while my deep loathing for HiE fics doesn't extend to changeling stories (I probably lost a few followers with that statement), it's still hard to get me interested in one.
Keeping this in mind, imagine my surprise when I actually found myself enjoying a changeling fic. Everything I know about this story so far screams of epic things to come, including (I'm assuming) a battle between Twilight and her inverse self: a super changeling bred with Twilight's bioessence, whose sole purpose is to bring about the downfall of Equestria. Appropriately, this changeling is given the name Dusk, an homage to Rule 63 Twilight. Is your interest piqued yet? No? Then I suggest talking to your doctor, for I fear you may be a robot. For all you sane people, the story is called "For A New Dawn", and you can check it out here
"But I.C.U.H," you say, "isn't this story written by one of your pre-readers?" Well, yes, I won't deny that. I also won't deny that he's done an amazing job with his edits on "Of High Seas and Howling Winds", and I want to help him get as many views as possible on his story because of that. But regardless, I wouldn't recommend a story to you guys if I felt it wasn't worth your time. Which it is. He's put a lot of thought into this, especially the intricacies of changeling society and a very in-depth magic system.
And since I have no idea how to wrap this up nicely, I will leave you with random keyboard smashing. nower;onew;fjnEWIUFNOEINFOIEWNFOWNd;ion;;oerfn;awoeinf;aewofnjrnjqefiouefn oknmeronaqogn;we riongieurgiuneowjfnojwnrifoijwepojncke jfnwoeifnosdicnowkenfwkjenfwkejfn odfnooweifnwowfnonurnnsklwpoiojefoijf.
Maturity level = Over 9000
Sounds kinda interesting; if you post a link, I might take a look at it.
I've come across two good HiE stories, and they're probably only able to be good because of who the "human" is: in one it's Rorschach (you know, the guy from Watchmen), and in the other it's Voltaire (the philosopher). Those are about as far as you can get from the typical self-insert. I can't remember the title of the first one, but it's probably something like Rorschach in Equestria or something pretty self-explanatory; the second one is 'The best of all possible worlds', and comes incredibly highly recommended.
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Wow. So you're the first person to ever comment on one of my blog posts. CONGRATULATIONS!! You win my eternal gratitude (product is non-redeemable).
Okay, in all seriousness, thanks. I was beginning to wonder if making these was even worth it
There actually is a link for the story up there, it's just hidden cause I'm sneaky. Well, not really, but I'd like to think so. Anyway, where it says "you can check it out here", just roll your cursor over the word "here" and click it. Should bring you right to the story.
I've actually seen those HiE fics before, but never checked them out due to my aforementioned hatred. The concept just rubs me the wrong way; not to mention that the way they are executed is all wrong. I don't care how nice and friendly is Equestria is. Those ponies shunned and feared Zecora, despite the fact that the only major differences between them are the way they speak and the stripes. The biology is all pretty much the same. If a human got zapped to Equestria and tried interacting with ponies, there would be mass chaos. It'd take months to explain that the human means no real harm, and even then I doubt anypony would trust him/her very much. So when I see the cookie-cutter synopsis of "Insertnamehere is upset with his/her life. They suddenly get transported to Equestria. How will they react? Can they get back home? Will they WANT to get back home?", I die a little inside. I realize that originality is non-existent, but that doesn't mean you have to beat a dead horse (no pun intended) until the only thing that remains is a bloody pulp.
... Apparently I feel quite strongly on the subject.
1126894 Well, the Rorsha-can't-spell-his-name (last time I was just using spellcheck) story doesn't have MASS chaos, but he is regarded with suspicion for pretty much all of it, and justly too. He spends most of the story living in the Everfree, fighting monsters because he has to fight SOMETHING. As far as I remember, Applejack is the only pony who really likes talking to him, after he saves the CMC from a timberwolf (and scaring the stuffing out of the fillies in the process). The author mentioned that they wanted to use an OLDER human, one stuck in his ways, for a greater contrast with Equestria.
The nice thing about the Voltaire story is that it takes place a couple hundred years before the MLP stories; and he gets portal'd right into Celestia's court, and immediately arrested. They have a Latin -> Equestrian translation device; turns out Ovid had been to Equestria before, and got a lot of ponies drunk. Celestia's favour, and desire to be seen as a PONY instead of a god, is mostly what keeps him afloat in that story; well, at least before a scared-donkey-filly-turned-vengeful-demigod rewrites history. (It makes sense in context, I swear.)
Rorsha-whatsit is unable to get home, because apparently the rules of interdimensional travel mean that something can only cross if it's completely destroyed in its home universe; it takes place after the comics/movie, where he'd been killed. Voltaire IS able to get back, and go on to fulfill the rest of his role in history; he arrives in Equestria when he's imprisoned for annoying the king/emperor/whatever of Prussia, and due to inter-dimensional time thingies he arrives back on Earth the next Earth-day.
I normally hate the HiE concept as well; when I see them in the Featured list, I don't so much "die inside" as I put an extra tick-mark on my "the world is stupid and screwed-up" list. I can't remember why I started reading the Voltaire story; I think because the part of the description about the court taking bets on how long he'll last before he's sent to the moon, that amused me and I decided to check it out. I found the writing to be decent, and the storyline engaging, and before I knew it I'd wasted all my free time reading the thing. The Rorsha-what's-his-name story, I found it on the TV Tropes list of MLP fanfic; the concept seemed ridiculous enough that I had to open its trope page, what I read there seemed cool enough, and that judgement was verified by the story itself.
Stories where a BRONY goes to Equestria... those make me just want to punch the author in the face. Same goes for stories where a LotR fan goes to Middle-Earth, etc. It's just BAD FORM to mix "real world" and fiction, unless you're doing some sort of meta thing where in-verse fiction can be travelled to.
You know what would actually be a GOOD "human in Equestria" story idea? Have a pony turned into a human, but everything else remaining unchanged. It would be, technically, a human in Equestria, but without all the hatred that idea brings. Heck, have Lyra mess up one of Twilight's spells, and now she's a brown furless monkey with no tail, that'd be amusing.
I normally never check out blog posts unless they're mentioned in the Author's Notes; and even then, rarely if they aren't linked. I've added that story to my to-read list now.
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I agree on the Brony in Equestria point. It's a shameless self-insert, through and through. That is, unless they are using a famous Brony (Living Tombstone, Alex S., etc), but that's just as bad because I guarantee the author doesn't personally know them, or their personality.
As for the two fics you mentioned, they both seem interesting, mainly the Voltaire one, I guess. But the thing that's pushing me away from them is the "inter-dimensional time thingies". That just seems like a cop out right there. If a writer can't come up with a VERY good explanation for how the human got zapped to Equestria, then they probably shouldn't write it to begin with...
1127896 No, inter-dimensional thingies is my own term. The Voltaire story, there's a... this will sound stupid, but a magic pencil with different powers based on who's wielding it. For humans, it opens portals. There's actually a good explanation for the magic pencil itself, and it doesn't seem as dumb in context, I swear.
As for Rorsha-whatsit, he himself thinks that Doctor Manhattan created Equestria and sent him there as some sort of sick joke. It's not as well explained as the other one, but to me the sheer INCONGRUITY of it makes up for it.