[REVIEW] Of dogs, and the kind that doesn't yipyipyipyipyipyipyipyipyipyipyipyip...

So, when one sleeps through their alarm for an hour straight, thereby missing the start time for their be-on-time-or-don't-show-up job, what does one do with their sudden new free time?

Chores (if their smart and don't want to sleep on the couch), that's what!

And what does one do while doing those chores?

Reading Pony, of course!

So I racked up a selection of fics and picked the one that looked most interesting to read.

Canine Complications does many, many things right.

To begin with, it tells a story. I know this seems obvious, but there's so many "stories," even ones that end up in the Feature Box, that don't actually tell a real story. You can even tell events without telling an actual story. How to tell the difference? I think it's best explained in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which I will quote now:

"Today, they suffered three quarters of an hour's droning on the subject of giant wars. Harry heard just enough within the first ten minutes to appreciate dimly that in another teacher's hands this subject might have been mildly interesting, but then his brain disengaged, and he spent the remaining thirty-five minutes playing hangman on a corner of his parchment with Ron, while Hermione shot them filthy looks out of the corner of her eye."

- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, via Harry Potter Wiki
To explain a bit further, stories are not just information, they entertain and bring the characters in them alive. Intellectually, I know that I'm reading a nonsense bit of fluff about a bunch of animated talking equines doing things that are not only impossible but to lend them any credence lands me squarely in the realm of Sparta. (It's too awesome for Madness) A well told story, however, makes my heart hurt to see Twilight Sparkle dealing with the crisis of suddenly craving meat, when all her life she's been happily herbivorous. (See? I can stay on topic!)

Second, it takes what has become a very boring trope of the fandom (Twilight screws up a spell, wacky hijinks ensue) and makes it interesting! Sure, we've seen teleportation errors, universe-transcription errors, mind-swap errors, and a few, more limited transformation errors, but even with the last one, it's always been "Twilight & Co. are the same, just different." The only other fic I've ever read that does something similar to this was Dragoning her Hooves, which was unfortunately fairly trope-heavy without keeping things engaging. (For the record, I do acknowledge that nearly everything we as a culture produce in fiction has many tropes attached to it. I counter that by pointing out that Star Trek and Lost In Space were made at the same time from the same tropes...and yet Star Trek is an international obsession while Lost In Space is the embarrassing aunt nobody wants to be stuck talking to at Christmas dinner.)

Third, and this is substantially more minor than the first two points, Celestia is portrayed as a pony, with preconceived notions and prejudices, rather than a nigh-omnipotent empress-goddess. Any story where she features heavily is always made more interesting when she's shown to be vulnerable in some fashion, making her less of a fixture of the world and more of a character with relatablility.

Also, I never expected to get away from stupid dogs for the day just to read a story about a smart dog. :p