R4 (Reactions, Reviews, Reference, Redirection) #0007

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Here are five slightly edited old reviews:
The Numbers Don’t Lie by shortskirtsandexplosions
A Filly’s Guide To Not Making Headlines by Bradel
Princess Celestia Gets Mugged by BronyWriter
Words Failed Her by Nonsanity
An Unepic Pony War In The Non-Distant Future by anowack

The Numbers Don’t Lie by shortskirtsandexplosions
(story link) (my original review)

This is another great example of the ‘could be a episode of the show’ type of story. I tried another fanfic by this author and just couldn’t get into it, ended up not finishing that one, but this one was much better. Really just showed how much word/style choice can affect reading enjoyment.

This one was about a magical artifact that makes the number of lies you told float over your head, in real time. So whenever you tell a lie it chimes and the number goes up one. This causes all sorts of problems, but the favorite character moment was the reaction of Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. The two of them just enjoyed it. Turning it into a drinking game of trying to tell the most unbelievable story without triggering the number increase. Their reactions were totally perfect. As were the rest of the mane six, with Fluttershy’s number increasing in decimals, and rarity having the highest number. She does fashion and marketing and is a drama queen, so she hits triple digits pretty fast.

The moral of the story isn’t explained very well. A bit muddled, but a very good story anyway. Would make a fun episode and would even make a good two-parter.

A Filly’s Guide To Not Making Headlines by Bradel
(story link) (my original review)

Liked this one. Right at the start it gave me the idea that Twilight Sparkle had been sent to Ponyville for more than the obvious reason of making friends. If we follow the train of thought from Whom The Princesses Would Destroy… story that shows why Twilight Sparkle has a lot more political influence than she realizes, getting her out of the capitol would be a huge relief for everyone around her. All those naive and socially unaware comments would have fairly major repercussions. The idea that now that she is royalty and can’t he sheltered from the results of her unaware comments is a fun idea to explore. So big bonus points right from the start.

This, along with How To Remove A Unicorn Tooth got me to feeling fine about alicorns other than the sisters in the show. This one in particular helped me get over my annoyance at making Twilight a alicorn. Though I still think how they did it was short-sighted and sloppy. However that slides it over into plot nit-picking instead of feeling the situation is fundamentally wrong. Though I do still think it ruined the show’s symmetry between the three types of ponies in the main cast. Was originally 2:2:2, but not is either 2:2:1:1 or 3:3:2 depending on how you want to count alicorns.

Great characterizations for everyone. Even the cutie mark crusaders, who had this great quote: “Darn, no cutie marks for political intrigue!” But Applejack, Rarity, and Twilight Sparkle were all extremely well done. This story is a excellent look at the types of problems Twilight might have now that she is a princess. This would actually make a great episode for season 4, though I doubt anything like this would get put into the show.

Putting two characters from the Whom The Princesses Would Destroy stories was a awesome touch. It helped my brain connect some dots between unrelated stories that I might have otherwise missed, not to mention is the reason I checked a few stories out following that connection. Pretty much permanently fixing in my mind the idea that there is a somewhat normal bureaucracy and media (newspapers mostly) presence behind the brief glimpses of how things are in the show.

Princess Celestia Gets Mugged by BronyWriter
(story link) (my original review)

A silly story, longer than most of the fanfics I’ve been reading lately. Is nearly 20k words long, so that’s a decent length. Certainly not just a snapshot or a single scene like several of the fanfics I’ve consumed that run around the 5k mark.

This is another story of Celestia being fed up with the stress of her royal duties and, at her sister’s suggestion, takes a day off to become Sunny Skies. I’ve read one or two stories with that same premise and enjoyed them. This one has the twist that she gets kidnapped by fairly bumbling criminals… and decides to go along with it. It is a very amusing story with a good moral at the end. The idea that things might be funny to you, but not so funny to people you care about. But mostly it’s a comedy. As in, the kidnappers rob her of the large amount of money she brought for her day off purchases, which she then wins back in a friendly poker game with her kidnappers. A poker game that she plays while tied up, one of the kidnappers holding her cards for her as she plays. It’s the kind of absurdest situation I like for my humor.

Words Failed Her by Nonsanity
(story link) (my original review)

Another story that would make a great episode of the show. Not a whole lot of substance here other than the good writing. No really neat worldbuilding except for the idea of a semi-sentient spell. Really wish the middle of the story had been longer. Would have loved a story whose main focus was not the problem, but was Twilight dealing with not being able to read. That is what I was expecting and it turned out to be just a minor part of the bigger solution. Works as part of an episode, but my tastes in fanfics has been more just examining a character’s reactions to a situation. So I was hoping to get a more in-depth look at Twilight and books and her love of reading, maybe a hint of sacrifice from her to help save her friends.

Still, if the worst I can say is that it would make a better episode of the show than it did a short story, that’s pretty good work.

An Unepic Pony War In The Non-Distant Future by anowack
(story link) (my original review)

If I was rich I would pay ridiculous amounts of money to make this story the season 4 premiere for MLP. It is stilly, touching, and incredibly over-dramatic and absurd. Everything a good MLP episode should be. Unlike the previous story in this post, it also makes a very very good story. Dealing with another issue that might come up now that Twilight Sparkle is one of the royal alicorns. Plenty of fun character moments for just about everpony keeping in character with what we’ve seen in the show.

Also, lots of bonus points for the title referencing one of my favorite episodes. Even if time travel has nothing to do with the story.

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