Fic recs, June 27th! · 2:53pm Jun 27th, 2015
Blogging before an episode again? When will I ever learn? D: Got a lot of reviews for ya today, not so much in the way of news (well, other than the really big, really awesome news), so head below to check out Vanner's Happily Ever After, First Night of Winter by Lilim, Madame Hellspawn's What Love Really Is (I totally didn't plan on reviewing two LyraBon wedding fics today!), and six more stories below the break!
H: 0 R: 3 C: 3 V: 1 N: 2
Princess Luna Takes the Bus by Protopony350
Genre: Trollfic
Luna tries to have breakfast.
I would almost call this an anti-story, it’s so self-aware of how little it’s accomplishing, and that’s the whole point. It consists mostly of divergences from the “plot”, teasing larger, grander stories that we’ll never get to read, and dedicating itself to unimportant minutiae. And if you’re in on the joke, it’s quite fun, short as it is.
Troll Recommended
Happily Ever After by Vanner
Reading by Goombasa
Genre: Romance
Lyra and Bon-Bon are about to have the wedding of the century. That is, if crazy wedding planners, snoopy nobles, scandals and sabotage don’t shut it down.
Oh, look, it’s everything I wanted Slice of Life to be! This is a great story about background ponies rallying around two of their own. It’s got my OTP, it features some great characters, lots of humor, and, unwilling to settle for maudlin slice of life, weaves in a story about tradition and the last gasps of a dying aristocracy. The Pokey Pierce in this piece may well be the same one from One Last Quest (and indeed, I recall him being a highlight of that story), portrayed as a chef, Lyra’s good friend and, well, more or less the hero, almost the main character. (This led to unwelcome comparisons to Nyx’s Family.) Berry Punch is also a standout character: The scene in which she’s introduced goes from fanon standard to gut-busting hilarious in about two seconds. Frankly, the way she’s rendered is a little weird, and transparently meant to fit her into an archetype (that is, the priest who drinks and kicks ass in equal measure), but I can’t say I’ve ever seen the like for her, nor can I deny it wasn’t entertaining.
On that note, however, I will say that this story has issues with distractions. There are some jokes that don’t go anywhere (Pokey’s quip about a threesome is a good example, though the adult humor generally worked otherwise), the reveal of the ‘villain’ was confusing — going from apparent red herring to out-of-nowhere conclusion, back to the red herring as a second culprit — and there’s a Cupcakes reference that nearly derailed the final chapter. That said, it’s not the worst Cupcakes reference I’ve ever seen, and ultimately didn’t destroy my enjoyment of the story, but it was definitely unwelcome. It was, at least, deflated by the best (and funniest) “get out of trouble” reveal I’ve seen in a long while. The writing is decent, though Vanner has problems with close repetition, but otherwise, I think this is fairly solid. It’s a fun romp through a LyraBon wedding, with only Pinkie and Rarity repping main characters, and the ending got me all choked up. ;_; (It’s beautiful.)
Recommended
What I Learned About Friendship Is… by RainbowBob
Reading by VisualPony
Reading by Captain Sand
Reading by Quill N. Lead and Emogak
Genre: Comedy
Discord just needs to write what he learned about friendship. Why is it so hard?
Like that one about the CMCs playing in a cardboard box, this is a Spongebob scene reinterpretation. The scene in question is linked at the end, and this mainly just takes a few jokes from it, then continues on in considerably better fashion. The ending is really funny. The stuff leading up to that, however, suffers from being repetitive. Discord chants the title ad nauseam, and the word “ice cream” appears far too frequently. Granted, I do always enjoy Discord acting petulant, but that’s not enough to cover up the slapdash writing. This is funny, in the end, and worth it for a laugh, but RainbowBob’s done better.
Vaguely Recommended
First Night of Winter by Lilim
Reading by Goombasa
Genre: Shipping
Rarity hopes her gift will be enough to tell Applejack just how she feels.
Part of me, probably the Rarijack-obsessed part, wants there to be more to this. It gives us a reason for Rarity to have feelings for AJ, and leaves off just after she very subtly (or perhaps not-so-subtly) makes those feelings known. In doing so, it implies an awful lot while avoiding most shipping tropes. But I wanna know what happens next, darnit! D: This probably won’t change any minds, but I think it’s a pretty solid piece otherwise, with Sweetie and the CMCs adding some much-welcome levity.
Recommended for Shippers
Neither Rain, Nor Sleet, Nor Grappleglorp… by Dash the Stampede
Genre:
Booko Stamps reminisces while being carried by a fiendish creature from beyond time and space.
This is from a recent writeoff, and the big problem with it is that I already read a story about basically the same thing that was quite a lot funnier. That’s hardly the story’s fault, however, and it’s certainly amusing. Also, I apparently helped with the ending. :V At only a thousand words, this won’t set you back too much.
Recommended as Light Reading
Twilight Sparkle and the Tentacles of a Thousand Suns by Normal
Mature: Sex
Reading by VisualPony
Genre: Random
Twilight gets herself tangled up in a Ponyville-wide orgy.
I can be really naive sometimes; I don’t know why I ever entertained the notion that this would be anything but what it turned out to be. Maybe the chapter title and casual Scootabuse in the opening set up an unrealistic expectation. Either way, well, this is a story about Celestia bringing a bag full of tentacles to an orgy. It’s funny, sure, but it also suggests that Spike was both welcome at the orgy and missed when he didn’t come arrive. This just isn’t my cup of tea.
Not Recommended
A Fun Day! by DontWannaKnow
Mature: Sex and Gore
Reading by Captain Sand
Genre: Scootabuse
The mane cast decide it’s time to end Scootaloo, once and for all.
Once upon a time, I read this. Aaaand I downvoted it. And I didn’t leave a comment so I knew why I downvoted. And then I heard part of it read in the Dark Horses by Night video (it’s NSFW, so I’m not going to link it, but you can find it on Scribbler’s Youtube channel and it is well worth watching, it’s hilarious) and thought it sounded funny. Also, I am a glutton for punishment. Plus, Captain Sand has an early reading of it, so here we are. Yup. Heeeeeere. Weeeeee. Aaaaare. So yeah, it’s hard to honestly review this based on its relation to the show. It’s obvious pretty much from the premise that these are not the characters we know (that’s probably what sounded funny to me). All that’s left is evaluating the content, and, well, there’s quite a few too many rape jokes for my tastes. The writing is adequate, but obviously didn’t have a lot of effort put in (things like casual Appledash attest to that). This comes off as trying really hard to be ‘edgy’ and/or ‘offensive’ as possible, and it’s just not worth reading.
Not Recommended
What Love Really Is by Madame Hellspawn
Reading by Scribbler
Genre: Sad Romance
Lyra, attending Bon-Bon’s wedding, thinks back over their relationship.
I was all set to be disappointed by this story. I like a good tragic LyraBon, but it seemed from the outset this would just be an “if you love someone, let them go” kind of story. Which isn’t bad, per se, but has distinctly been done. Things get even worse when, after the wedding, we get a scene of Bon-Bon obviously talking to Lyra’s grave. “How maudlin!” I said, twirling my moustache. “Next you’ll suggest Lyra killed herself because they couldn’t be together!” And then there was a twist and it was beautiful. Blink and you’ll miss it, but it recontextualizes the whole story and turns maudlin into… uh, I can’t think of a good pun to make here. :B This story is pretty great.
Recommended
Two Cups of Cider by Gumball2
Genre: Slice of Life
On a cold, lazy winter day, Pinkie pays Applejack a visit.
Despite the fact that there are still a couple days of voting left, this one’s from the current writeoff, and it just so happens I read it in the prelims. On the surface, it’s just a slice of life piece about AJ teaching Pinkie the secret Apple Family cider recipe. But, like a lot of stories this time around, there’s something more going on, that doesn’t reveal itself until the very end. If you like twists, this isn’t the most mind-blowing, but it’s distinctly effective, and makes this worth the read.
Recommended
I was wondering where the view spike came from :D Thanks!
And yes, help you did. :V
This is a surprisingly accurate description of today's episode!
3186823
Brilliant. :3
Dontwannaknow is a cool guy. One of my best friends in the fandom. His work on that account is pretty subpar (funny, but subpar), so I'd suggest checking out his new work.
3191007
You mean his old work is subpar? Because I've reviewed like, three of his stories in the last couple months and more or less hated all of them. :B Not a good recommendation.
3191522 Well, yes. All the work on Dontwannaknow is subpar. His new account is where things are happening.
3191915
And you're not telling me what it is because why? :V
3191918 he doesn't want people to link the two accounts because of his reputation. I'll send you a PM
3191924
Ahhhh.