Fic recs, August 26th · 6:07pm Aug 26th, 2014
Been a while, hasn't it?
As a reward to myself for reaching the halfway point in Outside Insight, I decided to churn through a handful of fics that’ve been sitting around waiting for me to do just that! I also cleared the cancelled fics and stuff that’s been on hiatus since 2012 out of my RIL. Not an easy process, and not a lot to show for it (less than 2% of the total), but at least it means I’m 70 stories further away from 4000.
I hope everyone who’s following me is also following Skywriter, since he is a far better writer. (Not being self-deprecating; he is objectively far better than I, and sets a good goal for me to aspire to. :D) On the off-chance you’re not, I want to direct your attentions to the comic version of his story Princess Celestia Hates Tea, the first page of which can be found here. The artist is doing a great job, and while it’s just a straight adaptation, it’s nice to see something that isn’t [name of super-popular fanfic that is also bad] getting the attention for once. So I want to encourage visuals artists and musicians and whatnot to do this kind of thing more.
Also, I just uploaded a voice acting demo reel!
To the reviews. Lots of good stuff this time! (The joys of reading things because I want to!)
H: 1 R: 4 C: 2 V: 0 N: 1
We Live in a Kind World by shortskirtsandexplosions
Genre: Slice of Life
I’m reviewing this because yamgoth wrote a hilarious post about my stories. So here’s to you, bro.
I’ve never had to say this before, but I do not recommend this story to those with high blood pressure, or who have a deep-seated loyalty to the show’s characters and can’t stand to see anyone say a bad word against them. Get into shipping wars? Get hopped up about who’s best pony? Do not read this story, you will only give yourself a conniption. You have been warned. And the reason for this warning is the story’s main OC: a cantankerous old stallion with a heaping helping of invectives for anypony who comes near him. He is a perfect pastiche of everyone that makes our world a difficult place to live in, a horrendous grouch who spends the story lambasting the mane six in the most awful ways possible. I was honestly amazed at the author’s ability to come up with a continuous stream of insults without repeating himself. The stallion's presence in town becomes a really excellent problem for the mane six, with three of them ready to kick his ass, Twilight trying to maintain the peace, and Fluttershy trying to be kind through all of it. I really felt for her; for all that Red Oats epitomizes everything disgraceful about our world, I can never look at vitriolic, hateful individuals without wondering what made them like that. And yeah, I kind of figured the reason for his tirades was what it ended up being, but that doesn’t keep this from having a really great moral, not to mention that ending. If you can deal with a few typos, and aren’t among the groups I mentioned above, check this out.
Recommended
Worth It by Pascoite
Review #600 of 2014!
Genre: Future Fic
This is a lengthened entry from a minific writeoff. Forty-some years in the future, Twilight is firmly settled into her position as Princess of Friendship and keeps ready correspondence with all her loved ones. Most notably, Spike went off with a dragon migration at some point, and he comes back to visit her now and then. This ends up being a very quiet meditation on immortality — Twilight makes a very excellent point about it — not to mention the closest a story can get to TwiSpike without turning me off. I actually really appreciate the way that scene is handled, and it goes to show this needed to be set in the future, to give Twilight the experience to be able to handle that revelation with maturity. My one question is whether this is Twilestia; I’m not sure, and it’s either meant to be in the background enough that it’s not worth comment, or just me reading into things. Anyway, this is softly emotional and of course excellently written, and should appeal to a broad readership.
Recommended
A Good Girl Never… by Anonymoose
Genre: Sad Romance
Given John Perry’s reaction to this story, I felt challenged to read it. During a sleepover tell-all, Applejack recalls a lifetime filled with punishment for being who she is. And you know what? This actually works really well. I think the difference between John’s reaction and mine might very well have to do with an author’s note that I suspect was not present when he read it. Yes, Applejack being immersed in Southern mores is old hat, but given that this author apparently wasn’t aware of that, I was able to take the first step over the threshold and appreciate this story for what it is. The romance is really cute and got me all excited about the tribulations young love brings regardless of sexuality. Applejack trying to figure out what’s “wrong” with her is heartbreaking. Granted, the negative side of this is still really on-the-nose, feeling more earth-analogue than truly Equestrian, and goes where you’d expect it to, so YMMV. What actually confuses me is this author uses interrobangs. Not ?! or !?, but the actual ASCII character. I don’t know what to think about that.
Recommended
Of War and Ponies by DancesWithBaglez
Genre: Solider in Equestria
During the invasion of Normandy, an American soldier and the German he was trying to kill end up in Equestria. Now, I know as much about the details of D-Day as I do the details of what it’s like serving in the military, so I can’t really comment on the historical accuracy. What I can comment on is the needless South Park reference in the middle of a tense, and admittedly somewhat dull, combat scene: bad idea. The length of that scene is actually a big downside to this; it takes too long to get to the ponies, and in the meantime, I found it hard to care about any of the characters. (Also, I wasn’t expecting Blithe to be the one to go to Equestria, given the focus on Leeper for most of it.) Now, the setup of having an American soldier and a German soldier trying to deal with being in Equestria together is a good one, but this doesn’t really use that premise to any good effect. The ponies’ dialogue leaves a lot to be desired, and the narration lapses into telling again and again. Sympathy for the German people during WWII is hard to come by in fiction, and while this makes a big difference between the Nazi Party and ordinary Germans, the “we’re in the war because our leaders say so” angle is hammered into the story. This definitely needed a lot more care, and likely a lot more length, to really make its message work.
Not Recommended
The Weed by PaulAsaran
Genre: Romance
I’m reading this because its… second or third sequel took first place in the non-mature side of the Body Swap contest. Whether I read that story or not is going to depend heavily on how I feel about its prequels. And, well, this is pretty good, so that might actually happen in time! This starts us off with Rarity reluctantly foalsitting a teenaged Carrot Top, and introducing her to the world of looking fabulous. Skip ahead a few years later, and that initial friendship has turned into something more on Carrot’s part. That opening scene is really great, with Carrot’s dismay of being unable to beautify herself thanks to her lifestyle, and unfamiliarity with Rarity’s beauty implements, being very compelling. And while it does make for a solid start to romantic feelings, this has a couple bobbles. First, that opening scene transitions into Carrot Top’s POV toward the end, and that’s not the only time that happens. Second, there’s quite a lot of goings-on in this that are just skipped over. It’s not the worst case of telling I’ve ever seen, but it’s very obviously meant to skip ahead to the ”good stuff”, while I just wanted to see her and Rarity spending more time in Canterlot. Lastly, there’s a character named Nye Stone (is that a horse pun? I can’t even imagine) who just shows up, already dating Rainbow Dash, being familiar with everyone, and trying to get the two of them together. (He’s apparently from another series.) But ignoring him, this story is just romantic as fuck, putting a really elegant spin on a completely random ship. (Oh, it’s from Random Romance, that explains that.) If you like romance, don’t pass this up.
Recommended for Shippers
Bucking Up the Wrong Tree by Twinkletail
Mature: Sex
Genre: Body Swap
And this took first place in the mature side of the Body Swap contest. Applejack and Caramel run afoul of Discord, who switches their bodies, which of course means Caramel ends up having sex with Soarin in the morning. This piece is interesting because it shows Discord fitting in in Ponyville, outside the context of the mane cast. (Also I liked it because SoarinJack.) I also rather appreciated that Caramel’s attempts to “prank-proof” his room show that while he’s used to Discord being around, he really has no understanding of just what Discord is capable of. That said, there’s something about Soarin and AJ having sex when AJ is not AJ that I found somewhat problematic. And, well, this is kind of what you’d expect from a body-swap piece labelled ‘mature’, guy getting to experience sex from the other angle and all. Still, it’s very well written, so if you’re into this, don’t pass it up.
Recommended For Cloppers
Marmite Showers by Blueshift
Genre: Comedy
Once upon a time, I ate some Marmite. It didn’t go well. But in doing so, I joined the group of People Who Can Be Trusted (that is, people with an opinion one way or the other on Marmite), so I guess it wasn’t a wasted effort. And because of this, I felt the need to read this story, especially given who the author is. It's pretty much what I expected. Everypony is abuzz at the new shop moving into Ponyville, which turns out to specialize in selling Trottinghamian (i.e., British) food items, like Marmite. No one is excited by this, and it’s hilarious. This gets off to a great start with an immediate running gag, which only someone like Blueshift could pull off so quickly. All the dialogue is overblown and the characterizations are played entirely for laughs. Having been in many a British-American “why the fuck do you eat this?” conversation — and yes, there’s a dig at American snack conventions in here too — I enjoyed the hell out of this story, and it’s short enough that it shouldn’t be a waste of anyone’s time. (But seriously, don’t eat Marmite, it’s awful.)
Recommended
Daring Do and the Curse of Ahuizotl by horizon
Genre: Character Death
This was an entry in the most recent writeoff, and I was interested to see what horizon did to expand the story. I’ll say that what he did was definitely the right choice. Not to spoil anything, but this features the death of Ahuizotl, and Daring finding some peace from it. It’s hard to believe a pony would derive any pleasure from another creature’s death, and this spends a lot of time explaining why that happens. And then it throws you for a major loop if you’re paying attention. It does a good job of being economical, and I like it a lot more now than when it was in the contest.
Highly Recommended
I love that your "reward" to yourself is doing more work than I do during any given week. You're a strange man, Pres. This is why I love you.
Personally I was a little confused by the Romance tag on Worth It. If it was Twilestia it was very, very subtle. Looking back over the story I suppose it could have been for the briefly mentioned Spike X dragon OC relationship.
I'm glad you liked Bucking Up the Wrong Tree! Although I do recognize your bit of a problem with it. I guess I didn't think of it in that particular light until after I had published it and it was brought up to me by others. I'm considering writing a sequel, and if I do, I'll be trying to address the impact that the actions of the story had on the characters.
This looks like a bumper crop of stories. I like seeing the high R value.
No review of Famous Last Words?
I kid, you already did for the competition.
Anyway, I suppose I'd better check these out, seeing as most of them I have either read and agree on or I RLed.
Hey, The Weed is what introduced me to PaulAsaran as well. He does a good job and I ended up doing a lot of editing for him. I hope you do read Ordinary World. It was a lot of fun to work on and didn't get a lot of exposure.
Oh yeah, Paul also won the Exiled Contest from Badass Twilight = Total Domination with Twilight's Inferno. I'm not about to forget that story any time soon.
Actually... Nye has a twin brother named Jimmy. Jimmy and Nye. (Think about it.) The 'Stone' part is actually just a family name from their father, Stickin Stone.
This worries me, because that means you're going to read "The Challenge of Fleur," and in all honesty I think that's one of my worst stories.
2403099
Seriously, when I've been slogging through bad fics for hours on end because I feel I have to, slogging through bad fics for a little while because I want to is a godsend. Also, most of them were good! :D
2403130
This is basically it. I said, "Oh, it's for Spike and his dragon boo" but then I suppose it's probably the strongest evidence for Twilestia as well.
2403142
I'm not even certain how big a problem it is. I mean, it's not their first time doing it, right? If it was, then I'd be a little put out, and they likely would be too. Otherwise, well, it's just Caramel taking advantage of
his latent homosexualitythe situation to fulfill a fantasy. Not that he had a whole lot of outs (though he did have them! It wasn't rape!)2403245
I only review writeoff entries when they're posted. If I can remember the story, I'll usually do it right away, but sometimes I can't. I also don't go looking for them, though I think I follow most of the participants.
2403775
"Jimmy and I?" I got nothin'.
And if you think it's one of your worst stories, well, so long as I can get through it, I'll hit up the sequel. :B I didn't participate in the contest because I didn't have any ideas for it, but I was definitely interested in the winners.
2404143
I was joking, mostly; they were The Pony and the Phoenix, Final Witness, and The Dying Words of Starswirl the Bearded; I just stuck them all in a short story collection with only very minor modification from the contest entries.
The last one (Moving Heaven and Earth) is going to be expanded before posting.
2404143
Oh no, it's not their first time. I see them as a rather playful couple. A quickie in the morning here and there wouldn't be uncommon with them.
2404143
Jimmy and Nye.
Twins.
Jimmy. Nye.
JimmyNye.
Are you seeing it yet?
I seem to be the only one who thinks "The Challenge of Fleur" isn't very good, so who knows? Maybe you'll love it.
2404248
That's a bit of a stretch. :|
2404764
I know, but gotta give myself some hope.
2405606
Sorry, I meant the pun. :B
2405690
Ah.
Well, the less obvious the secret, the better it is? I guess?
Meh, you won't be seeing Nye or Jimmy in the sequels, so it's no big deal here on in. I do have a different OC who appears in all three sequels, though.
¿Did you say ⸘InterroBangs‽? ¡I have to read that! ¿How dou you feel about inverted punctuation like ⸘InterroBangs‽, ¿Question-Marks?, and ¡Exclamation-Points!?
2406821
I hate it, and now I hate you by proxy. >:|
No, the inverted !'s and ?'s are at least legit. Y'know, if you're speaking Spanish.
Thanks for reviewing We Live in a Kind World, PP. I consider it one of my favourite works on this site.