Badfic Slaughterhouse Special Edition #1 · 7:58pm Nov 5th, 2014
Welcome to the first special edition of Badfic Slaughterhouse (I really should get someone to make a graphic for this) where I subject myself to a variety of stories—new and old, good and bad, famous and unknown—recommend the best for your reading pleasure, and throw the worst into a grinder for your twisted amusement.
In these special posts, I’ll be examining MLP fanfic universes with notable contributions by a variety of authors.
This time, I present a look at a famous (or perhaps infamous is more accurate) series of Pony on Earth stories, renowned for spawning so many crappy side stories that the mods actually banned their publication. That’s right; it’s time to check out the universe of Five Score, Divided by Four.
What have I gotten myself into?
To begin with, here’s a little background on my previous experience with this series: I learned about Five Score when the mods dropped the hammer on it. At the time, I read a few chapters of the original story and a few chapters of the only side fic that got posted to Equestria Daily. For purposes of this project, I read both of them from the beginning, although I did skim certain parts I remembered clearly. Everything else, I read in full, even when it was painful.
Aside from those, I had to cherry pick a few of the others. There are over 60 stories in the Five Score group, far too many for me to review them all. I mostly picked the best-looking stories available, but I also included one that looked absolutely wretched in hopes of getting some good comedy from it. After all, it’s not really a Badfic Slaughterhouse if no badfics get slaughtered.
Now, without further ado, let’s jump right into the story that started the whole [phenomenon/mess].
Five Score, Divided by Four, by TwistedSpectrum
Tags: Romance, Comedy, Adventure, Human
Rating: Teen
Length: 285,557 words (Status: Complete – 37/37 chapter(s) read)
Synopsis: People start turning into ponies from MLP: FiM.
Review: First, I should address the elephant in the room. This story has two versions. One of them is rated Mature because it contains explicit sex scenes and coarser language. That version is about ten thousand words longer, and it seems to be the one the author prefers. The teen-rated version has the sex scenes omitted, usually replaced by other content, and it’s pretty obvious where changes were made. Reading through the teen version, there were at least a dozen instances where it seemed like something was off, so I flipped over to the mature version and found that I was right in each instance.
I’ll give it this much: it’s a fairly unique story. As stated in the synopsis above, people in our world start turning into ponies, which isn’t a particularly unique idea on its own, but after about eighty thousand words, it finally gets around to revealing the truth about why people are changing: MLP:FiM is a true story, Discord betrayed the ponies and banished them to Earth, all their memories are gone, and the curse that turned them into humans has ended, which causes them to revert to ponies.
The story follows two different groups of humans-turned-pony, one of which focuses on settling in at a safe location while the other group goes on the run. Unless you think knitting should be an olympic sport, you’ll probably agree that the latter sounds more interesting. Unfortunately, it takes about a hundred thousand words to get to that point. There are some reasonably tense moments in the first arc, which is primarily centered around the guy (Dave) who turns into Rainbow Dash, but there’s even more stuff that’s almost painfully mundane. Thankfully, that part is propped up by the mystery surrounding the events, and it’s the first time we see people undergoing the gradual change into little cartoon horses, so it has that attraction, as well.
In the second arc, which is centered primarily around the girl who turns into Shining Armor (yeah, there’s a lot of gender-bending, and that leads to a lot of awkward sex in the mature version) the group goes on the run in search of a safe place to figure out the reason for their transformation and attempt to reverse it. In many ways, this arc spins its wheels, repeating a lot of the same stuff that was shown in the first part, especially in regard to the transformations. The more adventure-oriented structure does help to keep it from being a total snooze-fest, despite being batshit insane at times, but the slower parts still tend to drag. There’s so much drag in them, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were written by RuPaul.
*Dodges flying fruit*
Once the two arcs merge, the adventure stalls out for several chapters as it focuses on expanding the plot and integrating the side stories people started writing, but it does build up to a big finish. Unfortunately, that finish is held back by a fair amount of contrivance (although side fics were supposed to fill in some gaps, like where and how the CMC found the elements) and the villain being a complete moron. Also, a few important questions are left unanswered.
The characters are a mixed bag, with each of them showing at least some personality characteristics of their pony form. Those traits often develop or amplify after the change, so it’s interesting to notice the similarities to the MLP characters, as well as ways they’re different. Unfortunately, their arcs are all over the place, and their actions are often dictated by the needs of the plot.
The writing is sub-par, especially considering how many proofreaders/editors are credited. It’s riddled with punctuation errors and typos. The first-person narration switches characters at times, and it doesn’t always make it clear that a change has happened, leaving it to the reader to piece together who’s speaking, which can take several lines. The narration is mostly in present tense, but it occasionally slips into past tense. There’s far too much narration about the character feeling, hearing, or seeing things, which puts extra layers of perception between the story and the reader, and it weakens the impact of some important moments. Overuse of “Subject verb” sentence construction is a constant problem.
Verdict: While it has an interesting concept, the story is held back by amateurish writing and sluggish pacing. Also, in the teen version, the bits that were cut out are so obvious that the replacement text might as well be scrawled on top of a big black CENSORED bar. With some heavy revision and a thorough editing job, the concept could produce something workable. However, as it stands, I can only recommend it if you’re willing to slog through a lot of boring content and overlook the grammatical errors.
The Last Crusade, by CyborgSamurai
Tags: Comedy, Adventure, Human
Rating: Teen
Length: 103,339 words (Status: On Hiatus – 15/15 chapter(s) read)
Synopsis: Four childhood friends transform into Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Babs Seed.
Review: This is the story that got posted on EQD, and it’s better than the original in a lot of important ways but falls short in others.
First of all, the grammar is reasonably solid. It’s not without hiccups, like the occasional missing comma or comma splice, but they’re not prevalent. It still has too many “subject verb” sentences for my liking, but it’s a step up.
Where the original story followed two different groups, The Last Crusade only has one, and where the perspective shifted frequently in Five Score, TLC’s stays centered on a single character. That sense of focus helps differentiate it a bit, and it makes it easier to follow. Another way it sets itself apart is that, unlike the other cast, these characters recover their memories of being ponies. Therefore, the Crusaders have a completely different outlook on the situation, which allows them to be more proactive.
Unfortunately, that avenue isn’t explored much. Instead of being proactive, the group spends ages arguing about whether to take risks or play it safe, and they spend very little time living up to the story’s adventure tag. Events even happen in the story to drag the scenario back to the limitations of the source fic. The result is that it feels like the same story told in Five Score, but with less action and all the major events happening “off screen.”
The characterization falls short, as well. While Five Score has strong, well-defined characters who all get their own time in the spotlight, this story has only a couple of those, and the rest are just expys for their cartoon counterparts. Also, Sweetie is the only one with a significant arc.
And speaking of which, that arc produced the only moment in this story that truly pissed me off. In Chapter 11, a conflict takes off that wasn’t set up very well, but had potential for some good drama. Then, Chapter 12 starts, and the conflict has already been resolved. To make matters worse, the MC explains directly to the readers that the other character involved asked that she not give us the details. If I could give someone a kick in the nuts over the internet… Well, there are a lot of people who deserve one, so the author of this fic would have to wait his turn.
Another little gripe I have, which probably doesn’t amount to much, is how characters sometimes speak in Spanish, and it’s sometimes written in Spanish (with no translation) but at other times, it’s written in English with a mention that what’s being said is in Spanish. Consistency, please!
Although it apparently only has one chapter (the climax, no less) to go, the story is on hiatus and has not been updated in about six months. The author has not given any indication of when (or if) he intends to continue it.
Verdict: This is a solid supplementary work, but I can’t recommend reading it on its own because it really does feel like stuff that’s happening off to the side of the story that actually matters. If you like Five Score enough to see it through to the end, you’ll probably enjoy this, but don’t expect it to change your mind about the series if you don’t care for the original.
However, I should also mention that it’s probably the closest thing you’ll see to a continuation or resolution of this:
Earning Wings of a Different Nature, by Strayan Phoenix
Tags: Comedy, Adventure, Human
Rating: Teen
Length: 72,168 words (Status: Incomplete – 10/10 chapter(s) read)
Synopsis: A helicopter pilot in the Australian navy turns into Daring Do.
Review: This one is a change of pace in some ways. First of all, it’s told from third-person perspective, rather than the first-person in the previous two stories. Next, where the previous stories are all about ponies trying to hide from people, there’s no hiding in this one; the protagonist, Mark Sheffield AKA Daring Do, spends the majority of this story on board a destroyer, and the entire crew knows about his transformation. Lastly, it is the only one whose protagonist is God.
There are some interesting ideas in play here. For example, Daring Do’s special talent in this story is finding things. As in, when she’s looking for something, she can instinctively home right in on it. It’s totally unsupported by show canon, and it doesn’t really make sense, but it’s an interesting idea that could be good with proper exploration… which doesn’t happen.
Characterization is weak in this story. The crew of the HMS Brisbane are so bland that I couldn’t remember any distinctive traits from any of them, and all of their actions blurred together into one big jumble of apathy. In addition, Mark has some pretty strong Mary Sue traits, such as his easy, logical, and instantaneous recognition and acceptance of the fact that he’s turning into a little cartoon horse. His crewmates all like him, and he doesn’t have any real antagonists except for nameless or faceless entities such as pirates or foreign governments.
The problems don’t end there, though. Mechanically, it has some severe shortcomings. While not as bad as the source fic, it has a frequent problem with dialogue punctuation, as well as the problem with capitalization that inadvertently reveals the MC to be God… which explains the Sueness, now that I think of it. See for yourself:
“Nice save with those Arabs there, Shef,” an officer spoke up, addressing Him by his nickname.
This makes me wonder if He saved the lives of those Arabs or their souls.
In fact, it was thanks to Chris that He probably knew the names and faces
It happens a bunch of times! Every chapter! This is clearly a clue that Mark is God.
“Rrriiiight,” Marshall frowned and slowly took a slurp from his tea, “So what you’re saying is... that God is actually a Brony, and is now amusing himself by turning people into his favourite characters?”
Wait… if Mark is God, and God is turning people into His favorite characters, why is Mark turning Himself into Daring Do, who He hardly even remembers? More importantly, will I be struck down by the almighty Mark for mentioning this divine plot hole?
It also has issues with talking heads, saidism abuse, needless adverbs everywhere you look, obnoxious bold text for shouting, and confusion about who’s speaking at some points.
Remember that elephant in the room from the first review? Well, the telling in this story is heavy enough to crush its skull. Most of the time. For some bizarre reason, things like a mundane cargo moving operation get a lot of explicit details, dragging RuPauling the story down in boring trivialities.
*Dodges flying vegetables*
This story hasn’t been updated since January 2014, and it doesn’t seem likely that it will ever get another chapter. In a blog, the author expressed discontentment with the direction of the story, and it looks like he gave up on it instead of fixing it or working with what he had already written.
Verdict: Earning Wings of a Different Nature does very little to earn a recommendation from me, and I’d only suggest it for die-hard fans of this series and military enthusiasts. Be aware that it will probably never be finished, and your best hope for a resolution of the character’s story (aside from her deus ex machina appearance at the end of the main story) is in The Last Crusade, where she appears a few times and is present in the build-up to the climax.
Five Score: A New Hive, by bossfight1
Tags: Gore, Romance, Dark, Comedy, Adventure, Human
Rating: Teen
Length: 119,812 words (Status: Complete – 36/36 chapter(s) read)
Synopsis: Some guy turns into Queen Chrysalis.
Review: Well, this is a change—a complete side fic. Nice to see someone actually completed one. But is it any good?
The story follows one Chris Barton, a college student who suddenly transforms into Queen Chrysalis, as he (now a she) and his girlfriend, along with Trixie and three newborn changelings, try to solve the mystery of his transformation and fight off the new enemies threatening them.
This is probably the best story I’ve read in this series, so far. That said, it does have a few hiccups, so I’m going to start off by smacking the story around for its faults before applying the soothing balm of praise.
On the mechanical front, it has just enough errors to be annoying. The missing commas where they’re needed, extra commas where they’re not needed, and comma splices grate on my nerves a bit, but I doubt most readers would spot many of them. Also, the story abuses ellipses pretty badly, and most exclamations have at least two (and as many as four) punctuation marks after them.
It has a minor problem with redundant dialogue tags, but I’m far more annoyed by the internet links. They’re inconsistent for a while, but Chapter 18 goes absolutely nuts with them, and it’s nigh-impossible to follow what’s happening without clicking them. Bad author!
There’s also a hole in its premise so big that if it were a hole in a changeling’s leg, that changeling would be 25 stories tall, and this metaphor isn’t working, so I’ll stop now. This is spoiler tagged because it contains spoilers for the main story, as well as this one. The crux of the series is that people turn into ponies exactly 25 years after being cursed by Discord. Chris starts turning into Chrysalis on the same day as the ponies who were among the first Discord attacked, but it is revealed that Chrysalis attacked Discord because her subjects had starved to death after the ponies were taken away. Either they starved in a single day or the timeline has a nasty fault.
There’s also this little gem that deserved special attention:
I hoisted Chrys onto my shoulders-- she weighed about as much as a full-grown horse can be expected. My legs shook, and I nearly collapsed under her weight.
This is a 24 year old woman with no claim to extraordinary strength lifting a creature the size of a horse onto her shoulders. Bullshit. That can only be made possible by the blessing of Mark “Daring Do” Sheffield, praise be unto Him. Without His divine strength, she wouldn't even be able to drag something that size.
You just thought of RuPaul, didn’t you? Admit it, and throw the food at yourself this time.
The narrative, as is common for this series, is told in first-person. Unfortunately, it has the same problem as Five Score with switching perspectives and not being immediately clear who we’re hearing from, and this one juggles no less than eight different POV characters.
Near the end, there’s a chapter or two of blatant filler. It seems that the author was unwilling to refrain from publishing anything until the main fic (which this one had synchronized with by then) was updated, so he just yanked something out of his ass, which did offer up some decent character building, but ultimately contributed little of worth.
Speaking of character, while most of the cast is reasonably well-balanced, Chris’s girlfriend, Liz, is far too saintly to be believable. While she shows some indication of being a little temperamental in early chapters, all her flaws quickly fade out, and we’re left with a character who could be the poster child for Mary Sue if the plot revolved around her.
The last thing I’m going to call the story out for is its wonky portrayal of how horns work. Throughout the story, every time a character does any magic, the narration points out that the character’s horn “lit up.” What’s up with that? Seriously, it happens at least 55 times (probably more, but I only searched for instances of “lit” and didn’t bother checking for “lighting”) over the course of this story (probably many more) and one chapter in particular has 12 instances that I counted.
Why is this so important, and why is the act of “lighting up” a horn separate from the action of actually performing magic? Do horns have an on/off switch? Can you not perform magic without turning it on first to let it warm up?
Okay, that’s a lot of bashing. So after all that, why do I still think it’s the best story I’ve read in this series so far?
For one thing, it has antagonists who push the protagonists to their limits, force them to make hard choices, and really test their character. The other stories suffered from having no real enemies for the characters to overcome except for one distant evil force who rarely (if ever) interacts directly with them. This one introduces a variety of adversaries, as well as different ways of overcoming their conflicts.
Furthermore, it justifies the romance tag by having the relationship between Chris and Liz stay at the forefront throughout its length. While Liz may be overly perfect, it does allow the story to build nice themes about the meanings of love and family.
It also has good pacing, for the most part, which almost disappoints me because it cuts off potential jokes about "Drag Queen Chrysalis." Instead of bogging down in a lengthy transformation process like the other stories in the series, this one rushes through it, and although that’s due to the character’s transformation being faster than normal because of her changeling physiology, it’s still a welcome change of pace. It also keeps the conflicts rolling, and it’s not uncommon for one conflict to be resolved as another builds and another one is introduced.
The story that it tells, especially in the first half, is different from anything else in the series, but it still feels connected to the larger narrative while establishing and retaining its own identity.
Verdict: As I said, this is the best Five Score story I’ve found so far. While the first two-thirds or so stands well on its own, you may need to have read the first story to understand the buildup to the conclusion and the ultimate resolution. However, unlike the other side stories, this one tells its own story with its own unique primary antagonist, so it doesn’t feel like it’s treading the same ground as the others. If you like the series, I’d call this one required reading. It’s also the only one I’d even consider recommending to someone with no investment in the rest of the continuity.
Tags: Romance, Sad, Slice of Life, Human
Rating: Teen
Length: 132,770 words (Status: Incomplete – 16/16 chapter(s) read)
Synopsis: A girl who’s been plagued by mental issues her entire life suddenly finds herself transforming into a pony princess, as well as the revelation that the mind of said princess is lurking in the recesses of her own.
Review: Welcome back to Incomplete Town. Population: most Five Score side fics.
This one seems to have less hope for ever reaching a conclusion than most of the others. It hasn’t been updated in over a year, and although the author still logs on regularly, she hasn’t released any new material since February.
This one takes another new approach to the concept, and unlike the others, it goes in its own direction with little or no regard to what the main story is doing. It’s like an AU of an AU, I guess.
The story follows Erin, a girl who’s struggled with mental health issues all her life, as she struggles with not only her transformation into Princess Celestia but also the presence of Celestia’s mind within her own, trying to break free of its constraints and co-exist with Erin. She’s joined by Jake, who finds himself transformed into Spitfire, and a guy who houses the mind of Princess Luna, as well as people turning into Nurse Redheart, Derpy, Lyra, Vinyl, and a host of other ponies who are added as the story progresses.
Unlike the ponies in most of the other stories, who struggle with their lack of memories of Equestria, Erin spends much of the story trying to suppress Celestia’s knowledge and personality in order to retain her own identity. This helps give the story a unique identity because Erin spends most of the story as a human, even while others around her are changing.
Another contributing factor to this story’s identity is its primary antagonist, Doctor Corddis (subtle, eh?) who has his own reasons for keeping Celestia and Luna suppressed within the minds of their human hosts and is all too happy to give them drugs which do just that.
Throughout the other stories, Discord (whose name I’m really getting tired of blacking out) tends to avoid direct involvement in their events. Here, however, he’s actively working against the protagonists on a personal level. This is the first point of significant divergence from the canon of Five Score, in which Discord (Why am I doing this? You’ve all looked under the spoiler tags already.) doesn’t actually travel to Earth, as far as I know, and definitely doesn’t stay for extended periods.
This further proves that it doesn’t take place in the same continuity as the other Five Score side stories, as there’s no way you know who would hang around in a world where Mark “Daring Do” Sheffield—bless His holy name—could reach him.
The story’s pacing varies wildly. Some chapters move like a glacier made of molasses and don’t affect the plot much, but others flew by and left me eager to see what was going to happen next. Unfortunately, the most recent chapter was one of the latter, and there’s little chance of seeing it continued, so that's annoying.
As an aside, this is the only story I’ve seen so far where I've seen a different interpretation of a character who I’ve already seen in another fic; Trixie was one of the main characters in A New Hive, and she’s in here as a completely different human.
By now, I’m getting really sick of shifting POV in first-person narratives. When it isn’t immediately obvious who’s speaking, it results in pure confusion. Seriously, authors, please don’t do this. It’s awkward and annoying. If you’re going to write in first-person, stick to one character. If you absolutely have to switch, make the change clear in the first sentence or find some other way to show it immediately.
While the prose works well enough, the mechanics are lacking. Missing commas are a constant issue, and it’s bad enough to hinder readability. Misspellings and obvious typos pop up from time to time, demonstrating a lack of proofreading.
Verdict: This is certainly a unique story among the branches of Five Score continuity, and it’s probably not to be missed if you’re a big fan of the series, as I’m sure that would mean you can forgive the mechanical flaws and POV issues. It’s also accessible to series newcomers because the plot has not crossed over with the main story at any point, and everything about the premise is explained thoroughly—more thoroughly than in Five Score itself, in many cases. However, you should be aware that nothing in it is likely to ever be resolved.
Hm. I think that’s enough serious stories. Now to find one that looks like an absolute disaster. There’s stuff about obvious Mary Sue OCs, obscure side characters galore, villains, and… Wait… What have we here? It’s a couple of fics with the crossover tag, and one of them is complete. I think we have a winner!
Five Score, Divided By A Different Time, by Violet Runner
Tags: Romance, Crossover, Alternate Universe, Human
Rating: Teen
Length: 19,892 words (Status: Complete – 12/12 chapter(s) read)
Synopsis: Some jackass turns into Doctor Whooves, who is the actual Doctor from Doctor Who and the actual Doctor Whooves from the MLP fandom and I think someone must have slipped LSD into my tea.
Review: Dialogue punctuation problems. Sparse narration. Awful dialogue tags. Grammar errors.
While the systemic errors in dialogue punctuation and frequent spelling/grammar errors were a strong indicator, I was certain I had found what I was looking for when I saw this dream scene:
Doctor Whooves was running through the Everfree Forest, every so often ducking behind a tree. “Derpy?!” He called out for the blond Pegasus. As he came to a small cliff a Dalek came around the corner and he was pulled to the side.
I think it pretty much speaks for itself. And yes, that is the entire dream sequence. One short paragraph. That isn’t a story. It’s the cliff notes!
*Dodges rotten eggs as a rimshot plays in the background*
Anyway, the story starts off with a complete lack of anything a reader should care about. Some jackass is getting an audition to be the new star of Doctor Who, and he totally wows the casting people with just a couple of sentences because there can’t be anything engaging in a fic this bad. And because this is a terrible story, screw the way television production actually works; the MC is given the part the very next day and told that filming begins the following week!
Turns out the Doctor was real all along. The guy who just got cast in the role is actually the real McCoy (not Sylvester!) and he’s the only one who can stop that guy whose name I keep blacking out despite everyone having looked at it already. Seriously, he’s even more of a threat than Celestia, so he’s the first one to get taken out. And because screw continuity, the sonic screwdriver is now a deadly weapon, capable of shooting lightning at the guy under all the spoiler tags and making Daleks explode.
Perhaps the funniest thing about this story is its insane pacing. It permeates everything, and that produces an absurd amount of unintentional comedy. For example, a British newscaster only devotes a single sentence to the death of Queen Elizabeth II before moving on to other news.
Oh, and did I mention it crosses over with more than just Doctor Who? Because it does.
“For the most part. We’ve been tracking down as many ponies as we can and offering them a safe haven here. Unforchantly parliament has been kidnapping a lot of them and taking them to that research center that Prime Minister Creedy opened at Larkhill.” Steven said with a disappointed sigh.
The Steven in question is Steven Moffat, by the way. If you watch Doctor Who, you probably know who that is.
Even if you don’t, you might recognize the names dropped in the dialogue as being from V for Vendetta. How is that even relevant, you might ask? It really isn’t. Near the end, a bunch of ponies are—screw these tags—rescued from a detention center at Larkhill without any struggle and conscripted to join the Doctor’s anti-Discord army.
As it progresses, the story manages to take a steaming dump on the main story, the multitude of other works it ham-fistedly references, and even a bunch of other Five Score side stories, to say nothing of the damage it does to Doctor Who.
As I mentioned before, the mechanics are a mess. Dialogue punctuation is consistently wrong. Misspellings and grammatical errors are rampant. Paragraph formatting is… Well, I’d ordinarily say it’s inconsistent when some paragraphs are indented and others aren’t, but I’m not sure I can say that when it follows a pattern. Every paragraph that opens with dialogue is unindented, and every one that opens with narration is indented.
In addition to all that, the story is riddled with plot holes, and character actions are frequently dictated by Insane Troll Logic. Things get thrown into the mix for no good reason, such as the Daleks, which don't advance the plot in any way or provide a significant obstacle for the heroes. References are slung with such reckless abandon that it often feels more like reading an issue of Mad magazine than an actual story.
Verdict: You know, I thought for a while that this might be a really bizarre trollfic. It’s terrible in every measurable sense, but it hits my sweet spot of so-bad-it’s-fun, and it moves so quickly that there’s a new form of stupidity to chuckle at on every page. I think it might be even funnier if you don’t know anything about Five Score going in, so if you enjoy hilariously terrible writing, check it out.
And with that, I’m finally done. It only took three weeks and all of my willpower to slog through seven hundred thirty-three thousand words and write a blog post that’s longer than all but two of the stories I’ve posted.
So where do I go from here? Well, for the next post, it’s back to business as usual. However, I’m going to get started soon on the next phase of this project, wherein I’ll examine another series of Pony on Earth fics with some similarities to the Five Score world. It has to be better than this one, right? …Right?
Coming soon on Badfic Slaughterhouse Special Edition #2: PonyFall.
Want me to take a shot at a particular story? Make a request in the comments.
Rules:
—It can be yours or someone else’s, and I don’t care whether it’s good or a train wreck.
—You can request a story of any length, but I make no guarantees that I’ll read it, and I may not finish long ones.
—One request per person per review post, and only on the most recent one.
—If I don’t like your story, don’t be butthurt over it. It's just one guy's opinion, and I'll probably recommend it for someone, even if I hate it.
Take a look at this fanfic!
The Lovers' Edda
At least it's diffrent!
Huh. I've vaguely heard of the verse, but I was never really interested. Glad to see I made the right choice. Just two questions:
1: Why did the mods ban the verse?
2: Who's RuPaul?
A good review as always.
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Added to the request list.
2575746
1. As I understand it, people kept posting the first chapters of side stories, which often had little or nothing to do with MLP, and not returning to them. The mods banned them completely at first, but soon loosened the restrictions and allowed posting of Five Score stories that had 30k words at the time of posting or were tagged Complete.
2. A famous drag queen.
How in the good god hell did you manage to read all those stories without ending your life by sticking your head in a wood chipper?
2575764
Simple. Propane.
2575764
Never underestimate the power of stubbornness and the will to hate.
Or Asperger's. It could definitely be Asperger's.
2575761
Okay
2575768
I know both of the stubbornness and will to hate. but the insomnia causes me to write instead :V
I read the score Five Score story semi-recently. It was okay, but I enjoyed More Than A Dream by nanashi_jones a bit more. Same basic concept and not as long, but I thought it made a better story.
2575869
If there's an example of someone doing something better with the concept, I might be interested. Maybe I'll check it out sometime. Thanks!
You are a regular Mark "Daring Do" Sheffield yourself there, Prak. I don't know many individuals who consistently go through hell and back like you do, all for the sake of an entertaining blogpost.
I did a Princess Luna story. Maybe you'll like it. It's called Silence.
Wait, wait, wait.
Five Score is how long? D: I have to read that for a follower get, fuuuuuuck ;_;
I've been following Last Crusade since it was published on EQD, and I've enjoyed the heck out of it, though I will agree that the pacing isn't always consistent. Sometimes a chapter is full of interpersonal conflict and action, sometimes it's just a few thousand words of wandering around and introspection. I blame trying to keep pace with the main story while it was being written.
2576043
It's somewhere between .4 and .5 Fallout Equestrias. yep.
There's a name I haven't heard in years.
Oh man. That stuff is ancient. Like, when-I-joined-the-site ancient. Maaaaaaaaaaaaan.
2576043
Yeah, that's a problem with a lot of the side stories. I figure the authors wanted to release something, but since they weren't sure where the main story was going, they played it safe and slowed the pacing.
Anyway, I'm sensitive to that kind of thing, but we all have our own preferences. If you don't share my concerns about the pacing, you'll likely enjoy Five Score, assuming you can filter out the errors. Personally, my coping mechanism was to mentally rewrite entire passages as I read.
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Yeah, it was started back in 2012, but some of the stories were completed earlier this year. Since PonyFall and Five Score are both series of PoE fics in different states of completion, written by a variety of authors, I figured comparing them would be fun.
Or painful.
So far, it's leaning toward painful.
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I've been told to expect that Five Score proper isn't as good as Last Crusade, so there's that.
In my experience, ambitious review projects generally are.
For some reason that I can't fathom, I'm going to throw my own pony-on-earth story under the bus… a 1.8k short followed up by a 10.6k sequel; treat that aspect however you will:
Friday Night Twilight