R4 (Reactions, Reviews, Reference, Redirection) #0004 · 2:06pm Oct 28th, 2014
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Here are five slightly edited old reviews:
Naked Singularity by Cold in Gardez
In Memory Of by Obselescence
Sunny Skies All Day Long by PhantomFox
Whom The Princesses Would Destroy… by Ghost Of Heraclitus
A Canterlot Carol by Ghost Of Heraclitus
Naked Singularity by Cold in Gardez
(story link) (my original review)
This was a pretty funny story about Twilight writing erotica. It is mostly poking fun at the kinds of mistakes amature writers make when trying to write fan fiction type stories. It is an absurdest comedy about bad writing, done as a fan fiction, which is often the type of writing you see those types of mistakes happen in. No cool ideas or anything, but I’d recommend it if you don’t mind trashy erotic stuff. As in, Twilight writes erotica that is trashy, not that erotica is a trashy intrinsically. A comedic look at just how bad Twilight Sparkle is at noticing/deciphering social cues. Cold In Gardez is certainly one of my favorite Pony fanfic writers, and possibly one of my favorite comedic writers in general. The description for this story in the link below is a pretty good bit of humor itself.
In Memory Of by Obselescence
(story link) (my original review)
This one is pretty short, incredibly sad, but extremely well written. It really isn’t much of a fanfic, you could easily write a bit of backstory to make it about completely new characters in some other world, but setting it in MLP with one of the mane six ponies just lets it be a very concise exploration of the subject matter. Isn’t a whole lot for me to say except that this story touches right on something I worry about. It’s far in the future for me at this point, but my mind degrading is one of the things I am a bit scared of when I get old. It’s about the only thing I have now that works even semi-well and losing my ability to think while not realizing what is happening is something that bothers me when my thoughts turn towards mortality. This is another story done in the letters between various ponies and is another example of how to do subtle clues in such a format. The language changing as Twilight becomes less capable is pretty much a demonstration piece on how to do such things.
Sunny Skies All Day Long by PhantomFox
(story link) (my original review)
Much better than the other story I read by this author. This is a fairly simple short story involving Celestia taking a day off from her royal duties. I think Princess Celestia is becoming my favorite character in My Little Pony thanks to all the fan fiction I’ve been reading that involves her. There is just so much interesting character to explore about a immortal divine ruler who has a snarky and somewhat slapstick sense of humor.
Whom The Princesses Would Destroy… by Ghost Of Heraclitus
(story link) (my original review)
This is one of the funniest stories I’ve read in a while. Made all the better by being a My Little Pony fan fiction. Even the other comedic fanfics weren’t quite this hilarious.
A look at what happens behind the scenes for something as simple as Twilight Sparkle visiting Celestia in Canterlot as a surprise. Between all the great jokes and the one epic battle with cosmic horrors is a great look at just how the rest of Equestria might see Twilight Sparkle. Protege of their ruler, savior of the nation several times over, student of the deity who commands the sun, and chosen bearer of the most powerful artifact in the world. As much as she doesn’t realize it, Twilight Sparkle would be one of the huge movers and shakers of Equestria. Her coming to visit Celestia might seem like just a surprise day trip, but for everyone outside of Celestia’s personal circle it would be a huge event.
I really liked this book. It has just the right kind of humor that I enjoy, the sort of surreal slice-of-ridicious-life that I mostly get from Terry Pratchett books.
A Canterlot Carol by Ghost Of Heraclitus
(story link) (my original review)
This is a story by the same author as the above story. Since I’ve gotten behind on reading a lot of tiny short stories it’s time to start bunching them up again. This has the same main character as the above story, but is much shorter and not really a comedy. Whom The Princesses Would Destroy… is a full story and this is just a brief interlude character study. Very well written even if the end is a little vague on one important point.
The interesting worldbuilding bit, which is what I look for in every book and find in most of the My Little Pony fan fiction, is a conversation about solstice celebrations. In this case the Equestrian Hearth's Warming Eve. It implies that Celestia controlling the sun is something that other nations know about and might be a little jealous about. Someone from a Zebra nation makes a comment about not understanding why Equestrian ponies have a winter solstice holiday because ‘surely you people are the ones who do not have to worry about the sun abandoning you’. Hinting that Celestia controls one of the fundamental forces of creation when she raises and lowers the sun.
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