Fic recs, May 11th: Post-Finale edition! · 6:48pm May 11th, 2014
Yessirree, with an epic season finale like that, it's a foregone conclusion that some folks are going to rush out and try to cash in on it with quick fics. (You can read mine here.) I've collected a few from the featured box at the bottom of this review, with a warning bumper in case you haven't seen the episodes yet for whatever reason.
H: 2 R: 2 C: 2 V: 0 N: 1
The Good You Might Do by Pascoite
Genre: Mental Health
I don’t often say this about Pascoite fics, but this is one I’ve seen before. (And I don't mean because it was a writeoff entry; that one was so long ago, I was reading this again for the first time.) Twilight’s in an asylum, getting visited by hallucinations of each of her friends one by one, who expound on their respective Element. Interestingly, these scenes are not simple escapes into fantasy, as every time, Twilight is exhorted to return to the normal world. What also helps this stand apart from the crowd is the writing. Pascoite has captured well the jagged thoughts of a mind on the edge. The imagery is strong, and recurring themes like music and thirst in the hallucinations help tie the whole story together. (The thirst is never quite explained.) There’s also excellent internal symbolism based around the music box shown at the start of the text. So while this is a setup that’s been written time and time again, you can count on a writer like Pascoite to make it into something memorable.
Recommended
The Princess of Books by anowack
Genre: Comedy
Twilight’s first act as a princess involves having to keep Princess Luna from executing the author of a book about Nightmare Moon. The tone is what really drew me into this piece. Though the comedy tag certainly fits, it isn’t laugh-out-loud, but it is a rather masterful mixture of light humor and show tone slice of life, with just a hint of going beyond the show’s boundaries in ways that make sense coming from canon. (The ending, I should mention, is rather unexpectedly epic.) It’s also an excellent look at Twilight adjusting to her role as a princess in ways that mirror what we’ve seen in season 4, despite this having been published prior to it (I think). The plot sometimes feels meandering, but never truly is, and Rainbow Dash’s role in the story is pretty awesome. In all, this is a solid read, and a great example of how you can go beyond the show without leaving it behind.
Highly Recommended
Piefall: A Clandestine Corps Adventure by AugieDog
Sequel to In Their Highnesses’ Clandestine Corps
Genre: James Bond Crossover
This time around, it’s not so heavily crossovery as it is equal parts cloak-and-dagger, action, slice of life and romance. If you’ve not read the original, I’ll say that this does set most things up well, but you should still check it out, not just because it’s a good work, but because it sets things like up like the central romance and what happened between Blueblood and his valet. As for why this story works, it’s gonna need spoilers. My main concern coming into this was the cover art. Making Pinkie a villain is, on the surface, one of those supremely awful ideas that no one should ever attempt. Well, no one who isn’t AugieDog, that is. This story plays up a lot on her being immature and kind of oblivious to the world around her, but maturity vs. immaturity actually turns out to be one of the central conflicts. And not only do things work out for her in the end, but we get enough bones thrown our way throughout the story to know that they will. Alongside that are themes of personal growth, the way relationships can change someone, mistaken identities, secrets, the past coming back to haunt us and, as always, friendship. Blueblood’s wrestling with his new persona as not-a-jerk Bluey, Pinkie does a whole lot of growing up in a short period of time while remaining true to herself, Spitfire plays an excellent turn as an old girlfriend, and the Discord here is one of the best post-reformation Discords I’ve ever read. In fact, this is a really shining example of a writer incorporating post-season-3 canon into a sequel to a story that was pre-season-3. There are a good four or five plot threads sealed up in as many chapters, which might lead to my single criticism: this is just a tad fast. Not fast-paced, as so many first-time adventures tend to be in this fandom, but more like a reckless driver on a road full of potholes, jouncing over divots, catching air and missing large stretches of pavement. Nothing left out of this story felt necessary, mind, but all the various threads were just so compelling, I wanted to bask in them a bit more. And the first comment left on chapter 1 suggested that there were five chapters planned, which did not ultimately turn out to be the case, so I wonder what might’ve been left on the cutting room floor. Either way, this is still a really fantastic story, and I daresay I like it quite a bit more than the original. A sequel that outdoes its predecessor? Unimaginable! But there you go.
Highly Recommended
Twilight vs. Winter by JR
Genre: Slice of Life
It’s been a while since I dug into my EQD bookmarks, but this one’s short and I feel like reading something right now. This is old enough (season 1/2 interstice) that I don’t think “Pony Discovers X” was quite a thing. That said, this is also old enough that the “Twilight finding out about life in Ponyville” slice of life nonsense outweighs any questions about why she doesn’t know how to handle snow, at least as far as describing what kind of story this is. If it’s not obvious, I didn’t enjoy this much. Twilight plods around Ponyville, bumping into her friends one by one and getting tons of excuses why they can’t hang out. The writing is flat, the dialogue is very flat, and other than some introspection from Twilight of the “I need to remember I’m not a shut-in anymore and go be friends with my friends” variety -- undercut at the end by a healthy dose of woe-is-me -- there’s really nothing to recommend here. On top of that, there are frequent errors, most notably awkward sentences that are often completely incomprehensible. In all, an early work that is ultimately forgettable.
Not Recommended
All right, BIG SPOILER TAG on everything after this point, if you haven’t seen the finale yet. And if you haven’t and you’re reading this journal, what are you waiting for?
A Light in the Dark by RainbowBob
Genre: Sympathy for the Devil
Tirek, imprisoned back in Tartarus, gets a visit from his brother, Scorpan. Scorpan’s use in the finale was really intriguing, if only for the fact that we never really got to see him, and the tantalizing idea that maybe, just maybe, he’ll be back in the future. (Aside: For those who’ve never seen Rescue at Midnight Castle, G1 Scorpan was originally a king who was corrupted by Tirek, but whose good heart eventually broke through, allowing him to help Megan and the ponies defeat his former master. Classic stuff.) There’s not much to this piece beyond their interaction and the what-ifs, and Tirek’s dialogue I noticed was a little repetitive and didn’t exactly sound like him. This is nevertheless a pretty compelling look at what G4 Scorpan might be like.
Recommended If You’re Really Into MLP Mythos
What You Leave Behind by Blueshift
Genre: Trollfic
C’mon, Blueshift wrote this. You think he’s actually broken up about the destruction of the library? Hell no, and neither am I. This is hilarious and the punchline is perfect, as I have come to expect from Blueshift. Rest in pieces, “Golden Oaks”, your name was never fucking canon. (No, seriously, I think it’s one of the best things the show’s ever done. It’s a bold statement marking a turn for the show, and they followed through with it, no take-backs.)
Recommended
Blank Book by Regidar
Genre: Sad
If, by some chance, you are broken up by the destruction of the library, this is the story for you. Twilight has a Watching Paint Dry-style crisis over a completely blank book, and then the camera zooms out, placing us right at the end of the season. I have to admit, I wasn’t too taken in by the writing, but the ending makes this story about new beginnings, so it's at least worthwhile. And, well, if What You Leave Behind is about why the library’s loss isn’t a tragedy, this one’s about why it is.
Recommended If You’re Sad Because Library
I'm waiting until I'm desperate enough for pone to watch them stuff everything they hinted at in season 3, with the keys and the box and the threads, into the last 10 minutes of a season finale that mixes pony with an evil villain showdown.
Because they're totally going to do that, aren't they?
Yay, sorta recommendation! I'm getting up there in life!
Hey, if the place I lived in for 4 seasons of a show was blown to bits, along with some of my MOST PRIZED POSESSIONS AND PIECES OF WORK, I'd be upset too.
no srsly tho thanks for the recommendation <3
I'm waiting for Netflix to get S4...
2101255
Nope! The objects turn into keys in the middle of the first episode. I am happy beyond compare that all of my friends' whining and moaning about how shit the finale would be turned out to be almost completely unfounded.
2101255
Pretty much what Solitair said. I mean, those things you mention are things that happen, but to describe them in that manner would take a tremendous amount of cynicism. The S4 finale was satisfying in a way that most of the season has not been.
2102215 2102367 You were right! The writers actually planned ahead for this one!
Yeah, 'Leaves and Branches' is a much better name for it anyway!
Thanks:
For the kind words! I've actually got my own "library tree fic" that I'm hoping to get done here pretty quick. And of course the third "Clandestine Corps" story is on my schedule for this summer...
Mike
*wants to see a review of Retribution*
2103092
Excuse you, it's "Books and Branches". :B
2103789
Yeah, I kinda feel bad that I missed that one. But, well, journal's up, I have no more onus to read things. :B
2104198
'Leaves and Branches' has twice as many book/tree puns, though.
Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar:
Twilight Sparkle hallucinates. I imagine that she probably does not eat or drink while doing so (thirst always overpowers hunger because one dies from dehydration much faster than starvation). The thirst is probably real physical thirst bleeding into the hallucination.
2107479
It just seemed an odd thing to emphasize without any apparent narrative purpose. Not that it detracts from the story or anything.
2107898
She is just extremely thirsty. She needs to stop hallucinating for a while and rehydrate. A burning thirst is torture. The staff must really try to get her to drink when she is lucid. If they cannot get her to drink, they may have to take drastic action:
If her dehydration becomes life-threatening, the fastest way to rehydrate her is an isotonic intravenous saline IV-drip. One could try to rehydrate her through her digestive tract, but the dehydration might cause her digestive tract to shut down; so, she could die from dehydration with liters of dihydrogen monoxide in her digestive system. One could safely give her a metric gallon (4 liters) of isotonic saline per hour.
After she is stable, the staff could put a soft plastic tube covered in petroleum jelly into her nose, thread it down esophagus, into her stomach. This is called a feeding tube, but, for every gram of liquid food sent down the tube, one sends a dekagram of isotonic saline.
A burning thirst is so torturous that it is quite plausible that it could bleed into a disassociative fugue.
Thanks for the kind words on Princess of Books!
The story was indeed finished before Season 4 started. I was spoiled on the fact that Daring Do's author would appear in the show and raced to get my story finished before its plot point involving the author's identity was invalidated.