R4 (Reactions, Reviews, Reference, Redirection) #0030 · 3:17pm Nov 24th, 2014
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Here are five slightly edited old reviews:
Tales of Ponyville by RainbowDoubleDash
An Early Reunion by RainbowDoubleDash
At the Grand Galloping Gala by RainbowDoubleDash
In the Heat of the Moment by RainbowDoubleDash
Countdown to Crisis by RainbowDoubleDash
Tales of Ponyville by RainbowDoubleDash
[story link] [my original review]
One of the reasons I’m enjoying these Lunaverse stories so much is that the author has a very consistent grasp of his characters across all the stories I’ve read so far. More so than the My Little Pony show in fact, but that’s to be expected with one author compared to several authors. It leads to a much deeper sense of immersion when the characters are so consistent across the entire series like this even from various viewpoints and across a broad variety of events. Another bonus point is that this story in particular, though it has been mentioned at least once before, as the most deliberate showing that earth ponies have magic. That all three kinds of ponies have magic and the unicorns only have the most flashy kind.
An Early Reunion by RainbowDoubleDash
[story link] [my original review]
Another good story in the Lunvaverse. Which is pretty much as expected from this author at this point. I think the first thing that occurred to me, mostly because of some thoughts sparked by previous stories, is that I really like this author’s take on the pony cutie marks. He portrays the cutie marks as not just a pony discovering their special talent and what they are good at, but at a more deeper level the cutie mark is a recognition of what truly makes that pony happy. Not just what you do, but what you enjoy. Which is pretty much the same thing as what MLP the show is trying to get across, but in these stories it is a much healthier way of describing the whole thing. This author is one of the few that I wish they would let them write a episode (well, I’d like a lot of them) for the show.
I think his view of the MLP world, even expressed as this alternate vision, is very much a good one to mix with the versions we see in the show and should be shared. This alternate view is a easy explanation of why the CMC fillies in the show haven’t gotten their cutie marks yet despite all their attempts. They are trying to find a skill to be special at instead of simply trying to find something they enjoy doing. In fact they sometimes go directly away from things they enjoy doing simply because they think that those things are just too simple to be special talents. Back to the story itself. It is very sweet and even sad in a few places. The scenes involving Luna dealing with being a mother (magic is involved) were almost heartbreaking. One of the most effective mother’s love bits I’ve come across in a story.
At the Grand Galloping Gala by RainbowDoubleDash
[story link] [my original review]
The Lunaverse story that re-tells the events of the season 1 ending episode from the show. Only, you know, much more complicated and full of blackmail and politics because the court in the Lunaverse is a bit nasty. More on that lower down. First off, Luna’s ability to split herself is very much fitting with what her divine powers would be like. Celestia is a single shining unchanging presence, but Luna should be able to scatter her sometimes hidden presence like the stars across the night sky being separate from the glowing moon. I’ve been liking the trend that has been peeking out that several of the names in the show are actually nicknames and several ponies have much more formal full names that they may or may not be trying to forget.
The core of this story is getting a picture of how the Equestrian government would be different under Luna’s rule instead of Celestia’s. In most fan fiction I’ve read that is based on the show’s chain of events Celestia makes sure there is little or no corruption. In the government Luna controls the backstabbing, blackmail, and corruption is all over the place. The difference between how most fanfics treat Celestia and how this author treats Luna is very interesting. The same basic situation of one sister going crazy, getting exiled, then the remaining sister having to rule alone for a thousand years. Just switching the names around and having things be more or less the same would be the easy way, but this author has actually thought about it and shown us a very different result for what could have been just a very minor change.
How Celestia goes mad with greed, instead of Nightmare Moon’s jealousy, changes the reaction to what happens in a very believable fashion. How that difference impacts Luna’s actions, which in turn impacts the type of government that forms around her. When Luna goes crazy with jealous it is a very person-to-person insanity that was given horrible power because she was a divine being. It made Celestia worry about her own judgement, but only in a personal way. It didn’t affect her on a professional level. In fact most fanfics about her take the path of burying herself in her work to avoid making that kind of personal mistake again. However, Celestia going crazy with greed and becoming a dictator of everything impacts the surviving Luna very differently. That is a very much non-personal problem. Every time Luna has to do something in a professional princess/ruler fashion the mistakes involving her sister’s insanity are right there in her memory. So she is more cautious than she should be, very reluctant to use her divine power or position of authority to deal with the problems at court in a direct manner.
This story would not make a very good episode of the show. It isn’t very family friendly and there isn’t much that would be inappropriate for younger viewers, but a lot of it would probably be very boring to the show’s current audience. Additionally it has too many moving parts and too many new or mostly new characters that need to be kept track of. It would need at least a half-dozen episodes to do properly and could easily fill ten or more episodes if you wanted. This story is more of a longer form plot like you’d see in Babylon 5 or The West Wing, a big plot that unfolds through many connected episodes, not a very episodic family-friendly cartoon. Yet, despite it not making a good episode for those reasons, it never completely stopped feeling like MLP for me. Never quite got far enough away from the source material themes to ruin the connection between what was going on and My Little Pony. It would be a spin-off show, but still part of the franchise.
In the Heat of the Moment by RainbowDoubleDash
[Story is tagged mature] [my original review]
This was a very silly story. I liked it, but it certainly wouldn’t be for everyone. Lots of innuendo humor, as well as off-camera sex and naughtiness. Still, fun concept that is executed in high over-the-top comedic fashion. Plus the amusing part of it being a non-canon story in a fan fiction alternate universe. Not as meta as some of the previous fanfics, but still amusing.
Countdown to Crisis by RainbowDoubleDash
[story link] [my original review]
A prelude to the bigger story I will be reading next. This one was very interesting because it gave the first side by side comparision of the main MLP universe and the alternate Lunaverse. This was cool because it let me see how closely my thoughts on the matter matched the author’s. Turns out pretty close, but he obviously put much more thought into a lot of details I had not even considered. Which is why he is writing really good fan fiction and posting it and I’m still struggling with getting a second story out where people can read it.
As always, The Big Master Review List is here: { THE MASTER LIST }
If you know of a text-format reviewer I'm not keeping track of, please let me know and I'll see if they meet the criteria to be assimilated into the list.
If you are an author who wants a more detailed review of a story I've covered feel free to message me. My reviews tend to be fairly light, mostly just reactions to a story right after reading it. I am happy to give a more careful read and reply to anyone who wants more precision and/or feedback.
Much love for the Lunaverse. It has its issues, but RainbowDoubleDash has been able to string together a very interesting take on the "What if?" scenario.
2613788
Yep. The look back is now at the part where I pretty much did a marathon of a huge pile of Lunaverse for a while.
Oh hey I got reviews! : D
2613841
Yep!