One-shot Recommendations #7? · 3:43pm Mar 5th, 2015
I have to come up with a better way to title these. 
Man, I am churning reviews out lately! Perhaps I should change my name to something a little more slick. Hmmm… Cerulean Voice… I like the Voice part. Something, something… what goes with Voice? You know what? I think I like… Noir. Noir Voice. Not a bad ring to it, if I say so myself.
Just kidding, PP. 
Nobody could ever read as many hoerswords as you.
So, a bunch of one-shots? Sure, why not? Let’s go. More reading! More words! Yay!
Story: The Butterfly's Burden
Author: Titanium Dragon
Synopsis:
What should be done about Discord?
Fluttershy knows that’s the question that Princess Luna and Princess Celestia will be asking during their meeting about “the breezies” in the most secure room in all of Equestria.
Could she ever forgive herself if she condemned one of her friends to be imprisoned in stone for a thousand years? But if the fate of Equestria really is on the line, could she ever forgive herself if she doesn’t?
Current Length: 10,734 words (one-shot)
Status: Complete
Review: This started off nice and simple. Then it got deep. Real deep. Starting off as a meeting between Fluttershy and Celestia discussing the breezies, the story soon segued into its real purpose: to discuss whether or not Discord has shown signs of improvement, and whether he should be turned back to stone or left alone. I adore Fluttershy in this story. She is timid yet strong, self-conscious yet brave. Celestia feels like she should, and while Luna feels far more hostile and overly reluctant to believe that Discord be left alone based on some behind-the-scenes mischief he’s been causing, both Princesses did feel like the Princesses we know. Many points are made for and against, although Luna does begin to sound like a broken record real fast. As a character study of all three, it works great. There’s a light smattering of lore-building and a few things about Discord you might not have considered before within. The story is very semicolon-heavy, and there were a few other style choices that niggled at me, but this was an overall enjoyable story. It is rather nice to see Fluttershy portrayed so well. Not one of my top favourite one-shots, but only just barely missing that mark.
Story: Allure
Author: TheSlorg
Synopsis:
While visiting Twilight Sparkle, Rarity stumbles across an old book that, upon first glance, seems to provide a detailed insight into time-worn customs on the preservation of beauty and grace. Eager to expand upon her knowledge, she takes the book home with her.
She soon discovers that the book offers more than she ever could have imagined, and its secrets can be hers...
...if she's willing to pay the price.
Current Length: 4,034 words (one-shot)
Status: Complete
Review: One look at the synopsis of this might make you think this is a carbon copy of Inspiration Manifestation, but I assure you that while there are similarities between the episode and this story, that is definitely not the case. For a story rated “Everyone,” with the tags “Slice of Life” and “Sad,” this was deliciously dark, yet very well restrained. The way that Rarity fights her own inner feelings when she stumbles upon the book’s terrible secret is really sort of… relatable, I suppose. It will be particularly moreso to an older audience: all Rarity has to do is cast the book’s hidden spell as many or few times as she wishes, and she can trade a year off her lifespan for another year of remaining beautiful and defying the ageing process. This is one of those great thought-provoking stories that will probably dig at the reader for a time after finishing it (and at just over 4k words, why wouldn’t you?). Would you? Wouldn’t you? Brilliant. And as it’s edited by CiG and Ferret, expect nothing less than top-quality writing and grammar. Literally the only thing that bugged me about this story was the misuse of the en-dash where an em-dash would have been more technically correct. But I refuse to hold such an infinitesimally small matter against the story, the same as I refuse to allow the fact that this could have been far darker (especially if Yours Truly had written it) to spoil it for me. A different writer might have implied something different with the ending, but I feel this ending suits Rarity’s character better. She can be vain, but she’s not that vain. Excellent work, Slorgy.
Story: Those Who Live Forever
Author: Moose Mage
Synopsis:
A mother brings her daughter to Canterlot, for enrollment in Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Together, they face the future.
Current Length: 5,242 words (one-shot)
Status: Complete
Review: One look at this and you’ll think “Oh, it’s about Twilight (Velvet) taking Twilight (Sparkle) to Celestia for her first day.” Don’t even try to tell me you think otherwise. (By the way, dumb move, Hasbro. You should have totally called Twilight’s mother “Velvet Sparkle” instead) Anyway, moving on, the first thing I see about this fic upon opening it is that it’s written in the traditional indented-without-paragraphs style. Some may scoff at this, claiming it looks too “wall-o-texty”, but if you execute it properly (as is done here very well) it can be quite charming. After all, are regular books not printed that way? Moving on, we’re introduced to a mare, presumably middle-aged, named Delores. An unassuming name for an unassuming pony, she seems quite ordinary and quaint, until you realise that she’s entering her young filly, April, into Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. And here, her character really comes to light. It made me smile, seeing her tear down the registrar’s objections to why the school would not admit her daughter on a technicality of all things. I have to respect that. As for the filly, April, she’s such an adorable sweetheart. She wants nothing more than to please her mother, help her run the family business should she fail her entrance exam. But a parent should push a child to achieve their own dreams, and the following scene really touched my heart. April is reminiscent of Twilight, in that she’s an eager and talented young thing with a penchant for using flash cards and staying up all night cramming in last-minute study, although she does make a remark about wanting to make lots of friends—probably the only direct contrast to Twilight I can see. And then came the kicker—and damn did it change the tone of the story. Wow. For such a short story about a few OCs, it is powerful, heartwarming and tearjerking at the same time. Get this story into you. At under a hundred views, and only seven total votes, it is a crime that this story flew so far under Fimfic’s general radar. It is an absolute Must-Read. I have been moved to tears. In fact, I don’t think I’ve been so moved to tears by a story in a very long time.
That concludes this session. I was going to do more today, but… curse you, Moose Mage. Curse you, and bless you at the same time. Don’t ever stop writing. I don’t care if you still have barely a thousand views total from all three of your stories, despite being featured by both Seattle’s Angels and Equestria Daily in the past. If you can make me feel like this… I mean, I’m shaking. Be proud. Be damn proud of this story.
People reading this review blog: go and follow Moose Mage right now. Read all of his stories. Give him all of the love that an underappreciated, unknown author deserves.
Adren
Moose Mage.
Now there's a name that rolls off the tongue :D
"Delores" isn't a very pony name. And I can't help thinking that with a filly named "April", this might not be on the cusp of ponydom. <.< I'll have to read it myself I guess!
Thank you for reviewing my story! I'm glad you liked it.
Allure ended up pretty solid as well, so I'm going to have to check out the third story.
I'm giving it my best shot, and I can confirm that so far nobody can read as many horsewords as PresentPerfect.
In retrospect, this was a very thematically cohesive set of stories to review together.
2852590
Did you end up reading Those Who Live Forever? If you haven't, you should get around to it; it is a very good story.
2854218
Is that a challenge?
I'd say I'm slowly catching up, but I'm not really sure if I am or not. If I reviewed 5 stories a day, every day, for the rest of the year, I still wouldn't catch up to the number of stories PP has reviewed.
Plus anyone who participates in the writeoffs ends up reading a lot of pony stories...
2920326
It really is, huh? This might be my best review blog yet. It's gonna take a truly remarkable set of fics to top this.
2920326
Ha! A challenge, good one. I'm lagging about 400 reviews behind him (currently posting 3 reviews a day more or less) on the big master review list. I can also confirm that doing five reviews a day every day for about two months showed only the slightest hint of catching up with him. I tried it for a while. Which doesn't even count any stories he reads for EqD or writeoff stuff he doesn't post reviews for here.
2920531
To be fair, I also review all the writeoff stuff, so he doesn't have a leg up on me in THAT.
Well, except that he reviewed a bunch of writeoffs before I started...
2920550
Pretty sure the only way to beat him is with a time machine at this point.
2920326
Nope, not yet. :B