Feb
8th
2015
Mistletrapped - Chapter 2 is up! · 11:02pm Feb 8th, 2015
Yes, you heard me right. Mistletrapped updated.
Finally!
I apologize for the long wait on the chapter. Chapter 3 has already been written and is in editing; chapter 4 has been written and is being worked on. The rest of the story has been much better hashed out than it was in January, and, hopefully, will be up soon (TM).
You can thank Bribri and Horizon for their help in getting this story presentable, and for noting some issues in the original conception of the flow of the plot and characterization which have now been elucidated thanks to his feedback.
The thing that I didn't care for with Mistletrapped is that it seemed to develop very slowly, I couldn't tell where it was headed, and I didn't see any interesting things foreshadowed that I might enjoy. There wasn't any real mystery or hook for me. The only ship sinks at the very beginning, and after that I didn't feel like there was much to look forward to, if that makes sense. Granted, I don't think a story needs "action" to avoid being boring, but I feel like I should at least learn things from the conversations of the characters that I don't already know (like the fact that Rarity thinks Twilight hung the mistletoe, which is obvious at the outset, and nopony seems to have a crush on anypony else).
All that said, it's very well-written as always, and I may give it another go later. I just think it might be an easier read if early in the story there were more obvious reasons to connect with the characters outside of the "Spike loves Rarity, Rarity doesn't love Spike, Rarity uses Spike" trope. As always I might be entering the story with odd biases so I doubt my experience is a typical one.
Woo!
*heads off to read*
Oh, goodie! ^.^
2780198
The story is primarily a SweetieSpike story. You might want to give it a look-see when it is finished, if that's at all interesting to you.
2780504
I did get the brief sense it was headed in that direction, and SpikieBelle is rather cute, though not exactly an OTP for me. Any shipping can be nice if written properly, though.
I probably will.
I think that ship is common just because Sweetie is like an age-appropriate Rarity proxy, though she's really nothing like Rarity and I'm too Sparity-biased for my own good.
Sweetie doesn't have the personality development that Scoots and AB do on the show, unfortunately, apart from some negative things (highly sensitive, a bit bratty, and not the sharpest tool). She's cute, curious, and happy-go-lucky, though, and I'm hoping in Season 5 both Spike and Sweetie develop more in character. They're probably the two most common characters on the show that could really use more character depth to them. I see Spike and Sweetie as less emotionally mature than any of the other speaking characters (I'd have included Apple Bloom, but that changed a lot after the first season). They need hobbies and interests. Spike likes Rarity, but doesn't have anything to offer her because all he does is work. 
I will admit that the Spike-at-the-games episode (though I had to cover my ears and cringe during the song) really hit home with me on a more personal level than I think any of the others have. It didn't make my cry like some do, and it wasn't my favorite, but the message spoke to me. But that's neither here nor there.
2780567
Yeah, that song was really something. It is good to know that they can invoke emotions in their audience, though I'm not sure that "squirming in discomfort" is really what they should have been aiming for.
I adore the CMC and would love to see them get more good episodes, but I wasn't super impressed with their season 4 showings; some of my favorite episodes in the show are CMC episodes (Hearts & Hooves Day, Sisterhooves Social, the Cutie Pox, and Ponyville Confidential are among my favorites, and I rather liked Twilight Time as well).
And yes, I don't really like the idea of Spike hooking up with Sweetie Belle just because she's an age-appropriate Rarity, which is why I made Sweetie Belle be the chaser here (and I have a conversation in chapter 4 about exactly this subject, though alas, chapter 4 is not nearly funny enough yet).
Poor Spike. Right family, wrong unicorn.
2780597
I'd add the Cutie Mark Chronicles, but that isn't exactly revolving entirely around the CMC, and The Show Stoppers. There are a lot of good CMC moments, though. (And they get some of the best songs: Hearts Strong as Horses and Bad Seed are both amazingly good.)
2780608
Hearts Strong as Horses is my favorite S4 song.
Bad Seed is a great song as well, but S3 was full of great music.
oh wow. for a little while there i thought this story might have died. I'm looking forward to reading the rest