Fic recs, October 9th · 5:40pm Oct 9th, 2014
Would the commonalities present among stories about Celestia be heliotropes?
Hey, Cold in Gardez has added two more chapters to Lost Cities! I like some of the wacky stuff that happens in the first, but the style is very different from the other entries, and I don’t feel like it adds much to the work as a whole. The second, however, presents some really interesting world-building. Oddly, however, it’s about a place that actually exists in extended canon; I’m pretty sure it’s the first one featured in this piece. Again, though, this tells a story, a direct and known thing, rather than something suspected, or forgotten. It’s an odd pair of chapters, but likely anyone familiar with the story… will likely already have read them and won’t need this blurb. :V
Reaction to my idea to transfer reviewed stories to a bookshelf seems to be a negative. I suppose I could always just gather everything onto one shelf, but then again I already have everything gathered on the spreadsheet. Not doing things is my favorite pastime, so here’s to the status quo!
Last but not least, let’s not forget there’s a new writeoff happening. Minifics again, which means 24 hours to write over this weekend!
ALSO YOU GUYS THE NEW ADD-TO-GROUPS FUNCTION IS AMAZING I gotta get going, I have an appointment in half an hour. D:
H: 2 R: 3 C: 3 V: 0 N: 2
Swooty Bell Adventures Part 2: Mr. McMeany Strikes Back by Protopony350
Sequel to Swooty Bell Adventures
Genre: Trollfic
While not quite as good as Twix Bar, this is still a pretty solid entry into the Swooty Bell universe. It’s got lots of Transformers, plus gratuitous desecration of Scootaloo’s corpse. What more could you really ask for? The author consistently pushes the envelope and most of the results are funny. (Also, this is really good Transformers crackfic, just sayin’.) If you liked either of its predecessors (not including the CYOA), you’ll like this one! (Beware, it doesn’t have a happy ending!) Swooty Bell has not lost her power over me, as it turns out, and I’m looking forward to the final entry in the series, currently ongoing. :)
Troll Recommended
Wild Fire by Horse Voice
Genre: Origin Story
Years ago, a filly washed up on the shores of The Village; ever since, the villagers blamed their bad luck on her. This is a really weird story, Beyond the Wall by way of Biblical Monsters — mostly on account of the setting and tone — used as an origin story for best show staff OC Wild Fire. It suffers from being rather detached from Equestria… but that’s kind of the point, and you still couldn’t “file off the serial numbers” (i.e., remove the ponies) and still have it work. It’s a paradox, a deadly-serious darkfic building transparently to what’s essentially a goofy payoff. You’d get the most out of this if Wild Fire’s name and image had been left out of it, yet if you don’t know who she is, the ending won’t mean anything to you. I’ll agree with the author that it isn’t his best work, but between the setting and the writing, I really enjoyed it, and I recommend it on those strengths alone.
Recommended
Pillow Talk by Pale Horse
Reading by Monanniverse
Mumbles a bit, has issues with certain words, and has a ton of background noise (which at least isn’t an issue when I’ve got water running). It’s ameliorated somewhat by the soft music in the background, but I don’t think guy’s quite what I’m looking for.
Genre: Twilestia
After Celestia blows Twilight’s mind with a spell, she basks in the afterglow. I hate this story, because it’s really good and it’s really creepy. Calling Celestia “God” (which makes no sense whatsoever) only adds to the list of reasons why this ship freaks me out. And unfortunately, it’s an excellent character study of both Celestia and Twilight, especially for the former. I just wish either of them had been with anypony else. That said, my one complaint is Celestia’s line about being able to do whatever she wants; I’m really not sure how I was supposed to take it. (Well, and the author wasn't keen on disobliging me of reading incest into this...) So if you’re into shipping, this is good pillow talk, but if you’re not, it won’t change your mind. (Meanwhile, I literally went through my RIL and removed 17 stories that even hinted at Twilestia, because this story made me realize just how much I hate it.)
Recommended for TwiLestia Shippers, Who’ve Probably Already Read It
Leviathan by Horse Voice
Reading by Illya Leonov
Reading by Scribbler
Genre: Horror
The former King of the Diamond Dogs, now the ponies’ captive, tells the tale of just what it is his people do. This is a really neat story. It’s got a cool premise, it world-builds just enough to get the horror across, and it’s got a hefty punch at the end. If I were doing a Halloween-themed rec journal again (I’m not, sorry), I’d make sure to save this one for it.
Recommended
Solace by Pearple Prose
Reading by Latte Punch
A noisy, poor-quality recording, I could have dealt with. Unfortunately, she couldn’t get through a sentence without stumbling, pausing, or stuttering, and I had to read the story myself because I just couldn’t concentrate on her voice. Not gonna go for more by her.
Genre: Historical
Celestia and Luna hunt the pet of the Mad King Discord in the Whitetail Woods. Going into this story hoping for a climactic battle will leave the reader with only disappointment, as it all happens offscreen. What it’s about is mostly just world-building — front and center are a pair of really imaginative creatures — with some good Royal Sister interaction. This does just sort of stop at the end, though it at least leaves the reader with some thoughts to chew on. My only real criticism is that the word choice isn’t terribly strong. Celestia and Luna don’t start speaking EME until the halfway point, and the rest keeps this from having an 'authentic' historical feel to it. The world-building is still welcome, and it covers a lot of ground in short order.
Recommended If You Like World-Building
That Is a Friend Who Cares by obabscribbler
Reading by DaBoy2187
I have reason to suspect this fellow is not a native English speaker, and that what I took for a “weird voice” at first is actually an accent. If that’s the case, then he does a good job with pronunciation and all. The issue I have is that his reading is very flat, regardless of why. This is especially bad in the dialogue sections, as they sound unnatural. Plus, he mumbles a bit. Needless to say, I don’t think I’ll be pursuing more readings by him.
Reading by Astro-Brony, CassyPony and Gina M
Genre: Friendshipping
Young Fluttershy takes a drastic action after a run-in with bullies, forcing Rainbow Dash to reassert her role as a friend. The one weird thing about this story is that, hearing the description first, I was expecting Fluttershy to have a problem with Gilda and do what the cover art shows in an effort to make herself look cooler to Dash. That’s totally not what happens. Instead, this ends up being the rare “cute and fluffy” piece that actually works. I don’t have anything to point out, either good or bad, save that I liked it and I don’t often say that about these sorts of stories. :)
Recommended
All of It, for Her by Pav Fiera
Genre: Character Piece
Cranky Doodle Donkey searches for Matilda in Fillydelphia. This is another past writeoff entry, and a winner at that. Interestingly, you could mistake this for a Most Dangerous Game entry instead. Cranky gives us a huge look into Equestria from a non-pony’s perspective and, being Cranky, doesn’t have a lot nice to say about it. This is a really masterful piece of characterization. Cranky is pitch-perfect. Giving him a foil in another pony elevates this beyond just “Cranky wanders around looking for Matilda”, plus there’s a whole ton of subtext that I don’t recall seeing before that makes this wonderfully bittersweet.
Highly Recommended
Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo by A Hoof-ful of Dust
Reading by Scribbler, Emogak and Caitbug
(Guys, you need to listen to this reading, Emogak is amazing.)
Genre: Sexual Comedy
This is a story about Lyra, portrayed the way I like her (exciteable, eccentric and oblivious to propriety), spouting off a string of sexual innuendo at Big Macintosh, who remains impassive. I don’t even care if anyone else likes this, this story is perfect. I haven’t laughed this hard in I don’t know how long. It’s so good, I listened to it twice (or would have, if Youtube wasn’t giving me the business). It slows down a smidge in the middle, then ramps back up for the end, and Big Mac is a perfect straightman. I just… I can’t, I adore this.
Highly Recommended
Failed Savior by BronyDerp117
Reading by Hero541
Genre: Character Death
Fifteen years later, Rainbow Dash recounts what happened the night she failed Fluttershy. Aside from being another overly dramatic sadfic, this is also the worst AppleDash I’ve ever read. Seriously, killing off a character just to slap two others together in a relationship? It’s all but insulting. I have issues with this portrayal of Dash, mostly due to the flowery language used in the first-person perspective. The hospital procedures didn’t set off any alarms, but… It’s just so transparent what’s going to happen from the start, there’s no tension whatsoever. Not to mention the My Immortal lyrics at the end took this from “bad idea” to “badfic”. I hope people don’t write things like this anymore.
Not Recommended
Broken by TheCloudtop
Reading (Part 1) by Akash the Reader
Genre: Sad Pinkie
After overhearing her friends saying bad things about her, Pinkie sequesters herself in her room and does some soul-searching. As I often say about season one fics, there was a point in the early run of the show where the main cast’s friendship could be seen as tenuous. Stories like this, however, show how that fragility can be put to poor use. Why were the others standing around talking about her? Who knows. I wrote this off after Twilight diagnosed her as bipolar, ADHD, and with some kind of mental retardation. What? However, I can’t fault the author for writing this: it’s vent-fic. That doesn’t make for a good story, but I have to think maybe it helped them, which gives it a reason to exist. And I’ll say that the second part has a pretty decent pep-talk in it, but… I can’t really imagine why you’d want to read this. If you’re feeling down, the first part’s just gonna make you downer. Or irritated.
Not Recommended
Hahaha, I know what you mean.
That Lyra fic looks hilarious and is pretty short, I'll track it (hahahahahaha, I can say track it instead of favorite it again!) for later.
Another minific write off?
My specialty. Bwahahahah!
Yeah, those words alone guarantee it would irritate me. I can buy some stuff about Pinkie. Hell, some of it seems pretty likely to me. Somewhere on the autism spectrum, sure. ADHD or just hyperactive, kind of obvious. Good at burying her negative emotions under a lot of false cheer, basically canon.
But a lot of the time it seems like an author is doing a "diagnosis" bit like this just to pile some hate onto her, particularly when they go with "retarded."
That much worse when they have Twilight, who generally thinks the best of her friends, being the one to say it.
If heliotrope(s) isn't an accepted term for them, I think we should
sunturn it into one.I think the bookshelves idea would be worth trying in addition to the group. Maybe have a master All Reviewed shelf, then individual ones for the various recommendations? That'd definitely be easier to use than the spreadsheet, and depending on the further library updates, maybe even easier than the group too.
Ooh, Horse Voice! Have you reviewed anything else of his other than Biblical Monsters/Johnny Never Knew What Hit Him? I'm curious what your reactions to his other serious pieces are....
Woah! Two of my pieces in one post? Shucks, I'm speechless.
It was the bit with the tire, wasn't it?
Yeah, but I had to fit that in somehow.
2521187
While I remember... do you have any plans to follow up on/officially publish that short story you did a while ago? If you've got any ideas related to it, I'd like to see them.
2521154
I think I'd like to have a Reviewed shelf, if only to alert people that yes, I've reviewed their story. That said, I'm nearing 1400 reviews, so my desire to actually do this is limited. :V
2521187
Crap, how did that happen? D: I blame you.
Really, it was the reveal of her 'becoming' Wild Fire. I mean, her name's the punchline, the cutie mark thing is... marginally silly, but it does sort of make sense. I suppose it's entirely because I see her as a comedic character first and foremost.
I'm still mad at you for getting permission when I apparently deleted my Wild Fire story out of guilt. >:B
2521154
Nope! Those two and this one are it so far.
Aww, cheers mate! You're too kind. I sorta undervalue the story myself, just because it's subtle and lacking in the pizazz department, I suppose. But like you, a lot of commenters really resonated with Cranky's characterization. It helps to write from the heart.
But ya, really stoked to see all the positive reactions coming in!
As for your other reviews, I umm...
I...
I didn't care for Pillow Talk.
I know that I'm committing heresy against my OTP here, but... calling her God once, tongue-in-cheek, mighta worked. Seventeen occurrences of God/goddess throughout the fic was really starting to make my skin crawl. Twi was basically fetishizing the power difference, rather than confronting/overcoming it. Now granted, this was just setting Celestia up for the "I'm a pony, I love you as an equal" trope, a sentiment which Twilight embraced, therefore Happy End. But the journey there involved a bit too much squirming, and when it's my OTP that's giving me bad feels, that's rather unfortunate. 
2521688
>a Twilestia Pav hates
oh happy day
2521357
That was a pilot chapter for a series of linked short stories I'll probably never write, because I've thought of a better use for that character. Don't worry; you haven't seen the last of him, if I can help it.
2521549
Comedic? I guess I can see your point. But darkfic is all I know how to write.
About that permission... I managed to run into Sibsy and Mando at BronyCAN this year. They said people didn't need permission, as long as they were reasonably respectful and made sure that kids didn't see anything they shouldn't (such as, y'know, my really violent origin story). So by all means repost it.
2522755
Okay. It is torn. :V HORSE VOICE SAID I COULD
Good call on Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo.
Also, no kidding about the reading by Scribbler and Co.