Fic recs October 24th! · 11:58pm Oct 24th, 2013
HEY GUYS I FORGOT TO TITLE THE BLOG SO I'M REPOSTING :V
H: 2 R: 1 C: 1 V: 1 N: 2
Treating Her Right by Rated PonyStar
Reading by Scribbler
Reading by Astro-Brony
Genre: Romance
Allow me to be self-indulgent for a moment. This story reminds me an awful lot of Dance ‘Til We’re High, and I wanted to address what I feel are key differences between the two. Both feature Rainbow Dash dressing up (in a tuxedo, no less!) for the purpose of making one of her friends who needs a little self-esteem boost feel special for just one night. When I approached the idea, every single outcome, including the one I actually used, ended with a lot of shouting and hurt feelings between the mane six. (A hallmark, I think, of season 1 fics: there was no sense of how deep their friendship was, nor that it would necessarily last forever.) The main difference between that story and this is that in mine, Rainbow Dash is engaged in a deception. In this story, she gets her friends to help her surprise Applejack, but is otherwise forthcoming about what, exactly, is going on. That is what makes this story superior to my own. (The lesson: I can’t write Rainbow Dash?) But I’m not reviewing my story. Treating Her Right is really a fantastic piece, hitting all the points I demand from shipfics save one. It starts off easily enough: Rainbow catches Applejack wearing a dress and pretending to be high-class, laughs at her, then starts feeling bad, and so decides to make it up in the only way anything can be made up in a story tagged Romance: she takes AJ out on a date, to make her dream of a “special night” come true. Now, to buy this setup, one has to believe a few things about Applejack: that she secretly wants to be pretty, that she wants to be treated “special” and that she never completely rejected the upper-class excesses of Manehattan life. I didn’t feel like the idea was unbelievable, but then I tend to see AJ as a blank slate upon which any old personality can be thrown, so YMMV. But really, she never talks about her dreams in the show, so that sort of thing really is open to interpretation. The story offers lots of cute moments, plus a tremendous amount of humor, including the first gender-identity joke I have ever seen work in a fanfic. (Granted, Rainbow knows the word “transgender” but doesn’t know some mares can like mares? What?) It helps that both ponies are totally in character — again, assuming you can deal with those initial suppositions about Applejack’s dreams. Where this story slips up is in two places. First of all, Rainbow Dash breaks a Pinkie Promise. Multiple times. I mean, fuck, you just don’t do that, son. But she's never called out on it and suffers no consequences. Then there's the ending, the only spot this falls flat, and just for the presence of three little words. See, I’ve come to believe that shipping should start off with reasons, and this does, and then it adds to those with a date, which, y’know, the whole purpose of is to get to know someone better so you’ll know if you want to start a relationship with them. But it shouldn’t progress straight from there to “I love you”; that’s overdoing things a bit. The odd thing is, the story seemed to be setting up just for a “we’re gonna have a next date and I’m thinking about you as something other than a friend right now” ending, making the love even more extraneous. That said, it didn’t ruin the story for me, and I think in the end, the good qualities of this fic far outweigh the bad.
Highly Recommended
Sky Pirates of Equestria: Phoenix Flight by Aquaman
Genre: Sky Pirates!
There’s something to be said for AU stories: they let you take liberties that you otherwise couldn’t. But at the same time, they can be hard to justify. What could possibly turn Twilight Sparkle into a pirate captain? The answer of course is, who cares? This story is awesome, and pirates are awesome, and Twilight makes an excellent scheming not-quite-Jack-Sparrow-style pirate. It’s a whole heck of a lot of fun to watch Twilight gleefully dismantle the privateer captain’s plans and win the day. And then the second part, though it comes off as extraneous at first, gives us a nice ending that helps the entire scenario go down easier. So if you’re not much into alternative looks at Equestrian life, you might not get anything out this, but if you like action, twisty plots and pirates, you most definitely will.
Recommended
Alabaster by DawnFade
Reading by Scribbler
Genre: Sad
Vinyl Scratch visits her father. He tells her to finish her homework because he just picked her up from school. In the larger body of fiction, this is a common trope. In the larger body of pony fiction, it’s used rather frequently to play for “feels”. But in the hands of anyone else, this would not have worked nearly as well. It’s plotted perfectly, Vinyl wrestling with her regrets and desire to stay with her dad in his last days (which have been going on for a few months now), their conversation is emotional but not manipulative of the reader. Anyone who’s been through watching a loved one slowly waste away to a disease like Alzheimer’s might actually want to steer clear of this. It’s written so on-the-spot that it suggests personal experience on the part of the author and will undoubtedly dredge up sad memories. But that’s how good it is. The one thing I can criticize is that there’s nothing particularly pony about it. Of course, there’s nothing particularly non-pony about it either; it’s a story about people and it fits in with Equestria on the whole. And while Vinyl and her dad could be anyone, her dad especially is a real character, and the author remembers to make that shine through in his fleeting moments of lucidity. It takes a lot of work to get me to like something this emotional, but this story is just great.
Highly Recommended
Loosening of the Screw by ChaoticHarmony
Reading by Scribbler
Genre: Crazy Monologue
This story presents an interesting question: just what does Screw Loose’s cutie mark represent? Unfortunately, it answers that question in the worst way possible. In true season one “we really don’t know what cutie marks are” fashion, it claims that not only is her destiny to be crazy, but she’s got a second personality who’s a Pinkamina-style serial killer. The two halves of her narrate the story, which is just a little slice of her life in a mental ward. On top of that, the setting is generally unbelievable, with workers at the hospital torturing her for fun and some really extreme bullying showing up in her past. It’s one thing to get a mental ward wrong; it’s quite another to make it fit into Equestria, and this story just doesn’t work for me. That said, if you do decide to read this? Listen to the reading. Scribbler really goes all out with the character voice.
Not Recommended
The Not So Odd Outcast by Jake the Ginger
Reading by Scribbler
Genre: Slice of Life
Alternate suggested title: How Lyra Stopped Being Autistic and Learned to Love the Bon-Bon. Because really, I got nothin’. It was no surprise to me that this was on my to-read, given the subject matter, but I really have no idea how to approach it. Lyra recounts the story of why everypony thinks she’s weird: she was obsessed with humans (which, unbelievably, she made up whole-cloth) as a filly, then grew out of it but was marked forever by the stigma of being weird and annoying, with her real talents forgotten or ignored. Then it fast-forwards to the present, when she’s still a pariah, and she stumbles upon Bon-Bon, who she once bumped into as a high schooler. (Their second meeting is actually pretty cute, as Lyra’s kept the moment of their first encounter firmly in her memory for all those years and Bon-Bon so obviously has not.) But that’s it. I’m a Lyra fan, and I didn’t get anything out of this. I’m not sure who would. The writing’s not spectacular, and telly in spots. Derpy stands out as a kind and loyal friend, but she’s not the focus here. I don’t know why this story was written, honestly, but neither can I say it’s terrible.
Vaguely Recommended
When the Field Becomes Fallow by Bronius Maximus
Reading by Scribbler
Genre: War Aftermath
This is a really heartfelt look at a family dealing with a veteran who’s been changed for the worse by war, and therein lies its problem. For this story to really work, you have to accept that A) like in March to the Scaffold, everyday Equestrians were crying for blood and revenge after the changeling attack on Canterlot, and B) the Equestrian army would not only conscript soldiers, but conscript by gender, stallions only. Personally, I don’t believe either of these, so what I’m left with is a story that feels real in every way but its setting. Admittedly, PTSD is one of those things I don’t really know anything about, but feel like I have an idea of what it isn’t, so with that in mind, I think this is a decent look at the condition. I’d actually like to get the opinion of someone with more personal experience with the matter on this story.
Recommended If You Can Accept the Premise
Be Strong Now by Closer-to-the-Sun
Reading by Scribbler (and DeftFunk!)
Reading by Lotus Moon
Genre: Sentimentality
This is another of those “I have no idea why this was written” stories. It toys a bit with an explanation for Applejack’s deadabsent parents, but never commits to one, and the dialogue is very expository. The main conflict is “will Applejack read the letter?” and since she does, what was the big deal? Honestly, before having read the description, I just thought she couldn’t read it right then, or in front of Granny. It didn’t even come off as a conflict, which is why I bring it up. Once AJ reads the letter, she finds it contains a “chin up” from her dad, and that’s it. There could have been potential here if it had opened with the letter and then continued on the “we’ll be proud of you no matter what you do” line, but instead it’s just “Applejack reads a letter”. The end.
Not Recommended
Next fic rec blog will be the Halloween-themed one on the 30th!
You are not smartest one there is.
Now see, this one's a bit less tricky to access. :P
1450306
I'm not. :(
Thanks for the compliment. I had fun with that voice. ^_^ My dog, however, did keep bursting in, barking because she thought I was being attacked.
I actually just read your review of my story. I'm really glad you liked it and highly recommend it to two people. Yeah, AJ never gives of the notion in the show of wanting to be treated like that, but at the same time I'd like to think that despite being a tomboy, she still has some type of girlish personality inside her. I mean, we've seen some parts of Rarity and even Fluttershy showing a bit muscularity (or maybe it's just me:)) so it's not to far off to think the opposite.
As for the breaking Pinkie Promise thing, Dash didn't do that. AJ made her promise not to laugh at her "dream" not telling everypony about it. Yay for exact wording! I was actually afraid at first of somebody calling that and I would have to explain, but your the only one who did so after so long so... yeah.
The "I love you" part I admit I found myself disliking really really much after I put it in there and submitted it. It's the one part of the fic I don't like and I blame myself for that. Others have told me they don't like that one part and I don't blame them, but I'm not removing it so I guess it's okay.
Really glad you liked the fic and I hope you read and review more of my fics in the future.
Later
1471706
Oh snap D: Time for a last-minute retraction no one will notice!
I know this feel, bro. :B