Fic recs, June 3rd · 3:03pm Jun 3rd, 2015
I guess the big news right now is round 2 of the slamjam starting, but you guys probably already knew that. :B I'm really low on stuff to add in the top part here. I did another SCP reading! This one’s a -J. (Which means it's funny.) And I can send a monthly thank you to my patrons, for supporting these blogs: Bradel, Noble Thought, Protopony350, Alexstrazsa, KitsuneRisu, Vimbert, Super Trampoline, djthomp, and horizon. Thank you all so much! (And the rest of you, you know who you aaaaare~)
H: 0 R: 2 C: 2 V: 1 N: 0
Flares of Light by ThatOneWriter
Reading by Goombasa
Genre: Shipping
Twilight and Fluttershy watch a meteor shower together.
By all rights, this is the sort of shipfic I tend to pan. It’s fluffy, they’re both secretly in love with each other, it’s just there to get them kissing by the end. But something about the way the writer went about using this tired trope kept me from hating it; I’m going to say it was telling the story from Fluttershy’s POV. That way, we can’t know if Twilight was planning to get with her all along, plus it’s refreshing to see a pony — and Fluttershy’s the best for this — who has a crush on another pony, but isn't acting on it. It’s still fluffy as hell, so be warned, but I’m okay with this.
Recommended for Shippers
Death Equals Life by Basic Information
Reading by Chaotic Seven
Genre: Dark
All are equal in death.
This story… Okay, so we start off adding “death cult” to the list of things Starlight Glimmer’s group does, and the way it’s handled is just fantastic. The writing is great, the things that are suggested continually blew my mind, I loved it. Those scenes were intercut, however, with flashbacks to Light Breeze’s life, which were considerably less fantastically written, and generally not terribly interesting. He was beaten by his father, teased for being pink (not something I can really believe in an MLP setting), and hated his job (which both works and doesn’t), which is why he and life-long friend Iron joined the cult in the first place. So much of this could have been so much better (the revelation of how Iron died gave me chills). Starlight’s motivations are never terribly clear, and while the less-interesting flashback scenes set up the “personal hell” for Light Breeze to climb out of, I was never terribly interested in him as a character. I mean, he’s not bad, but my expectation was that this would be an exploration of what life and death in Starlight Glimmer’s town were like, with maybe a little intrigue. Instead, I got a story about overcoming personal failure at literally the last possible moment, which is set up well but definitely wasn’t the most interesting story that could have been told with that setup. I guess I just wanted a different story. :/
Vaguely Recommended
The Most Important Meal of the Day by Pascoite
Genre: Comedy
The Flim Flam Brothers’ newest creation causes a stir.
This is from the newest writeoff, and I’m pretty sure Pasco won’t be expanding it, so I’m good to review. That said, I didn’t even read half the stories from that event, so there won’t be as many of these to talk about. Anyway, this one’s mostly an inside joke, but I think anyone with a healthy appreciation for bathroom humor will find themselves chuckling. (By which I mean, I loved it.)
Recommended for Laughs
Hit Me by alarajrogers
Read by the Author
The link to the reading is in the story description as a .wma. It’s kind of your standard “only have an onboard mic” reading, and she’s a little fast, but being the author, she knows what to emphasize, and the dialogue really stands out for it.
Genre: Comedy
After making her entire library unreadable, Discord suggests he and Twilight play a new game: “Hit Me”.
On the surface, this is 7000 words of Discord taunting Twilight, and it’s great. This author writes a really good Discord, and I never once felt like he was too random. That said, at some point, I started wondering just why he was playing this “game” with her. The answer comes in the (admittedly somewhat long) ending scene, which as an exploration of headcanonical ramifications of the MLP world works really, really well and helps ground Discord’s character even further. There are some issues, of course — a little bit of overwriting, the fact that he calls her “Sparky” (I think I just can’t deal with anyone referring to Twilight that way), a few words like “bespell” and Discord calling what he did to the mane cast as “discoring” — but this was a fun read with a slightly dark, but effective ending.
Recommended
Fade by ZaleAcon
Reading by Scribbler and Gina M
Sequel to End
Genre: Dark
A lone mare in a communication tower tries to reach out to whatever ponies might be left.
Where to start? This is a story that was crying out for a dramatic reading, and I can’t suggest strongly enough that you listen to the reading. Gina M gave at least 200% in one of the all-time best vocal performances I’ve ever heard. The story itself may actually be a tad difficult to read, but rendered in audio, it’s fantastic. Far and away, this is the best entry in the “Fading” trilogy, as it’s called, and it’s worth noting that you don’t have to read Falter to understand it. In fact, you don’t really need to read End either, so long as you know it takes place in a world where ponies have been disappearing without reason for quite some time. My only complaint is that it's not very pony, feeling far removed from the show and setting, which is more or less endemic to the trilogy. Still, everyone should listen to the reading, it’s just great, and I honestly can’t fault the way this rambling monologue carries forth.
Recommended
Bryan Chandler is Super Trampoline.
3120374 And xjuggernaughtx and his wife xjuggerwifex are awesome, putting up with me living in their house for a few days.
Wow, I'm glad you liked Fade! I always considered it the weakest of the trilogy due to its awkward wording (as I tried to give it a more natural style than the other two, since the whole thing is basically a monologue), but Gina M's reading is my absolute favorite of the three. I fully agree that the dramatic reading is completely incredible, and that anyone who is even remotely interested in the Fading trilogy should give it a listen.
Although I have to ask, when did I give away the narrator's name? In the original story, I purposefully hid her name in order to keep it more ambiguous, so what did you think it was?
3120374
oh snap
3120492
:O
I think someone was asking recently where you'd gone <.<
3120851
...Y'know, I coulda sworn I heard "Bambi". And I also thought that her name was mentioned in the description. I guess I was wrong! @_@ I'll change that.
3121231
Alright, thanks for clarifying that for me!