Fic Spotlight » Fic Spotlight #15 - Return of Fic Spotlight · 11:26pm Sep 10th, 2015
The Royal Guard — Triumphant Return Edition
[Obs]
Hey guys, I bet you forgot all about this being a thing, right? Me too! They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, though, so maybe fond memories of the times when quality fics were served up on silver platters. Y'know, in the before time, back when the One True King sat on the throne and the words flowed as wine. What's that? You don't remember that time? Then clearly you haven't read enough ponyfics! The Royal Guard is back now to deliver them to you. I guess they're a thing again. Click below the break to get ponies.
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Just a few things to clarify before we get this big fictional ball rolling again: Our aim is to post six approved stories every two weeks. Each one of these stories will be in a different category: Action/Adventure, Drama, Romance, Comedy, Slice of Life, and Human. This way, we ought to have something for everyone.
If you would like to submit a story to us, here are some links you’ll probably find useful:
-The Royal Guard Group
-Submit Your Story!
-The Royal Guard's Official Handbook
Finally—and I cannot emphasize this enough—we are always recruiting. If you think you’ve got what it takes to be a prereader, then don’t hesitate to Send us an application. If you have any questions about the application process, please direct them to Prak.
AND NOW, WITHOUT FURTHER ADO... STORIES!
This Week:
Action/Adventure
Queen of Queens, by JawJoe
Drama
Applied Starlight, by Unknownlight
Romance
Duet in the Folk Style, by Pascoite
Comedy
The Collected Poems of Maud Pie, by Titanium Dragon
Slice of Life
Gravity, by Avox
Human
Home, by KitsuneRisu
ACTION/ADVENTURE
Our kind has it that the life of a queen is the happiest, for they are blessed with the shortest time in this world. A mighty queen will be remembered for eternity, forever residing in the hearts of her people. The greatest tragedy a queen can suffer is to be forgotten – to be stricken from history.
I refuse to bend before oblivion.
PR Recommendation: “It is one thing to build a whole new world to populate with your characters; it is a whole other level to build new characters out of old concepts and have them effortlessly create a history, society, and culture through nothing more than the raw power of the core concept – like black-belt origami coming out of a pop-up book. This isn't your hyperbolic internet-slang kind of epic. This is Greek tragedy epic. You've never seen changelings, or worldbuilding, like this.” —InquisitorM
DRAMA
A pony wakes up in an empty void and discovers that it is infinitely malleable to her whims and desires.
A loving tribute to pretentious, incomprehensible mind screws.
PR Recommendation: “I've heard of worldbuilding, but this is ridiculous! All joking aside, this is a fic the likes of which I've rarely seen, and to go into too much detail about it would be a mistake. That said, if you like literal deconstruction, stream of consciousness, and at least a little bit of mind screwing, then read Applied Starlight.” —R5h
ROMANCE
Big McIntosh has a unique way of appreciating music, and Octavia certainly provides an experience. Octavia would love to get in touch with her earth pony roots, and Big McIntosh has the deepest roots around. They could learn so much from each other about why they do what they do, and they just might gain some insight into their own simple gifts in the process.
PR Recommendation: “Someday I'll forgive Pascoite for violently snapping my heartstrings with this beautiful story. Today is not that day. This is a fantastically realized, and fantastically tragic, romance by all measures.” —BlazzingInferno
COMEDY
Maud Pie has written thousands of poems.
Here are some of her poems.
They're about rocks.
PR Recommendation:
These poems are by Maud.
This is something I applaud.
But my poem is quite flawed.
Its verses are odd.
The same is not true for Maud's poems.
They rock. Literally.
Go read them. —GaryOak
SLICE OF LIFE
While digging around the Royal Canterlot Library, Princess Twilight stumbles across an old friend.
PR Recommendation: “Long before Amending Fences was even a twinkle in M. A. Larson's eye, Avox wrote another version of Twilight and Moondancer's reconciliation; one that focuses on Twilight's transformation from the nose-in-a-book unicorn we all fell in love with in episode one. Through a single scene, we catch a glimpse not only of the pony Twilight was and is, but who she's becoming. This is a quietly provocative piece that is well worth your time.” —BlazzingInferno
HUMAN
Life can be hard.
But for a young man named Travis, at least there’s a place he can run to.
A place where he has friends. ~ A place where he has understanding.
A place he can call home.
PR Recommendation: “I was honestly hesitant about this at first. I'm not a real big fan of a lot of Human stories within this fandom, mainly because of the excuses and shortcuts authors tend to take in order to bend the logic of their stories to their own contrived conclusions. Imagine my surprise, then, when I find that this doesn't have those excuses. It's a short, succinct story that, I believe, parodies a lot of the ridiculousness of common HiE cliches. And it works. By God, it actually works. I don't know how Kitsune did it, but he did it in style.” —Figments
Addendums
If you guys have any questions about our new sitepost policies, or our new approval guidelines, feel free to browse the handy dandy Official Royal Guard Handbook, and if you still find yourself lacking answers, feel free to ask Prak so that he can find the right person to give you what you need.
See you guys next time!
They live! All hail whatever necromancer that brought you guys back from the underworld.
3383139
That would be Prak.
3383141
Good old Prak.
Welcome back yo.
i forgot completely I'm a bad person
Ive read JawJoe's fic, that one is good.
I am going to read Gravity and Applied Starlight, those sound interesting.
Yo, Queen of Queens hype!
Also, Prak, can I learn necromancy from you?
Wow, thank goodness the Guard is back!
Nice to see Queen of Queens up there, that only makes this blog post just the bit sweeter!
Haha holy shit what also how did I have site posts turned off when I saw the one before this? D:
Oh wow, Applied Starlight is there. I haven't thought about that story for a long time. I always thought you had to submit your fic for the Royal Guard to consider it?
Well, I'm happy to see it there!
Bring on some more story downvotes!
Applied Starlight IMHO didn't know WHAT it was trying to be. It really just fell apart in the later acts. The lack of an epilogue left things more confusing rather than open. The sense of mystery gave way to simply confusion.
3383222
I'd be happy to take on a new
test subjectapprentice. Trust me, by the time I'm done, you'll know everything there is to know aboutbeing reanimatedreanimating the dead.3383440
That's strange. We do run into situations from time to time where someone submits a story they didn't write, but most authors tell us so when we PM them to let them know if it was approved or rejected. Maybe it's just been long enough that you forgot? I'd hate to think someone actually neglected to send an approval notice, considering that they require almost no effort.
Can't really agree with the Romance category recommendation. It was a good fic right up until the end, but then it took the easy way out to a sad ending that really didn't fit with the story it followed.
3383480 Heh. I knew exactly what I wanted it to be. I explained quite thoroughly what I wanted it to be in my blog posts. That is, of course, completely different than what I wanted being a good idea in the first place.
3383499 Hmm. Maybe I did submit it—I don't remember doing it, but if I did it would've been a year ago and I very easily would've forgotten by now. Either way, I'm happy to see it! I very much approve.
3383499
That... that wasn't particularly comforting. I think I'll have to pass, unfortunately.
Aww, nothing I haven't read/added to my RIL. Although I guess this is yet another reminder to prioritize Queen of Queens.
3383758
Do.
I have you blocked and Site Posts turned off, how are you still spamming my feed?
3384022
>First post in a year
>Spamming
seems legit
3384028 Not just this one, ALL site posts.
3384039 Whats so bad about them? There's only like 2 a month. Besides, they have many little interesting tidbits in them, and that says nothing to the flame wars that ignite in them on the occasion
-Sanity is overrated
3383499
I haven't gotten an approval notice on 4 of my stories that have been accepted, and I suspect there's a 5th as well. Might want to crack down on that.
3386188
Actually, we've already cracked down on it, and we now track the contact status of every submission. This should only be an issue with stories that were approved months ago. If you want to know the status of any stories you haven't heard from us about, we'd be happy to check on it. Just PM one of our members or catch someone on Skype, and we'll get you an answer right away.
The same applies to anyone else who's curious about the status of a submission.
'Home' is possibly the most depressing thing I've ever read. This thing will make you think; I just hope it doesn't make you think the protagonist is a reliable narrator.
3389425 if it depresses the reader they're probably self aware enough to see the potential for themselves to fall into the same trap Travis did. If it doesn't, then they probably are Travis.
Everybody wants to be confident. No one likes admitting that they might be wrong. Isn't it nice when people agree with you?
3395828
Third option: The reader is very happy with their life and finds the story completely unrelatable.