Fic recs, September 30th · 2:14pm Sep 30th, 2015
Just as I'm starting to recover from being sick, my computer starts acting up. D: Any idea why WmiApSrv.exe would be constantly restarting? I cleaned out a malware infection already, which seemed to get rid of it, but my comp's still restarting randomly. ._. It's not running hot, either. halp D:
A thing I’ve been editing has started to publish! Sequel to The Celestia Code and The Luna Cypher, it’s The Twilight Enigma! And for all that I wasn’t too thrilled by Luna Cypher, this story has been nothing but awesome so far. :D Please go check it out!
Garnot had a birthday recently and decided to throw a “Hobbit birthday party”, which translates into him giving gifts instead of getting them. You can find more info here on his journal!
InquisitorM has started a series of writing journals, beginning with a quite useful one on passive voice!
Man, A Bird in the Hoof makes me yearn for the days when Celestia was a part of the ponies’ lives. When she could just show up for a party at Sugarcube Corner like it weren’t no thang and totally dominate an episode. Not get three scenes in a season. :( Also, between Fluttershy talking to her at the end of that episode and Spike writing his own friendship report in Owl’s Well, I think I have enough proof to conclude that Lesson Zero was totally unnecessary. :V
For all that Over a Barrel is still painful to watch and still makes me angry, I find one can pull a “you shouldn’t get offended on another’s behalf” message from it. That’s something positive?
State of the writer coming next! For now, just a couple fics, including my 900th review of the year, to tide you over.
H: 2 R: 0 C: 2 V: 1 N: 0
Untitled #2 by The Elusive Badgerpony
Genre: Sad
Princess Celestia hadn’t moved for three whole days.
So all of the stories in this little series have a heavy focus on imagery and prose. This one feels a little less solid in that regard compared to those before it, but I can’t fault the emotions at play. This is, at its heart, just a conversation between Celestia and Starswirl three days after the banishment of Nightmare Moon. But the dialogue is so strong, you can really feel not only Celestia’s grief at what has transpired, but her fears for the future. That imprecise narrative helps with this, too, from the little details like the power of the Everfree to good use of pathetic fallacy. This is definitely one for fans of emotional drama, and I can safely say it’s not a simple retread for all that it covers familiar ground.
Recommended If You Can Forgive Editing Mistakes
Up Here by DegeTheMighty
Prequel to Do You Remember?
Genre: Slice of Life
Thunderlane comes to grips with his feelings.
Do You Remember is a fluffy piece of Thunderforth shipping I reviewed two years ago. This is its sequel-cum-prequel, and no less fluffy. We start with Thunderlane watching Blossomforth fly (after a POV shift and the word ‘carry’ used three times in the first paragraph). He realizes he likes her. He thinks back to a special moment they shared. That’s about it. It’s okay.
Vaguely Recommended
Your Face Matters by Obselescence
Genre: X Is a Pony
A changeling asks Queen Chrysalis a very important question.
Yeah, okay, so it’s another parody of Would It Matter If I Was? The inversion is pretty hilarious, but in all seriousness, this will never be publishable, which is a shame. It belongs in a museum minific collection.
Recommended for Laughs
This Is Not an Adventure Clyde Adventure: A Story About Twilight Sparkle by horizon
Reading by Me and ShadowOfCygnus!
900th Review of 2015!
Genre: Crackfic
Twilight is worried about the stories Spike has been writing, the ones about about the alicorn who definitely does not exist.
Because so many Adventure Clyde fics have been unable to pass moderation, horizon wanted to write something Clydish that would. And he did. And my god is it amazing. It posits Adventure Clyde as a creation of Spike. It jumps back and forth from the present day to the beginning of creation. Multiple times. It cites one of Bad Horse’s blog posts nine times in one paragraph. It gives us the phrase “hoof-breathy-salute”. The time headings are hysterical. Obviously, horizon has missed his calling. Thou Goddess? Melt? The 18th Brewmare of Bluey Napoleon? Please. He should have been writing crackfics all this time.
Double-Highly-Top-Stars Ultimate Recommendation TO THE MOOOOOOONAH!
No, but seriously, that’s actually an H
Souvenir by TinCan
Reading by Neighrator Pony
Genre: Sad
Celestia wonders why Twilight is so reluctant to see her.
This is a really uncanny piece, blending together a certain kind of sure-to-tug-the-heartstrings sadfic with a hefty bit of magic and a seemingly sinisterly innocuous question about a really interesting monster. It’s heartbreaking and beautiful, with a message about responsibility that makes the heartbreak nobler. You’ll likely figure out what’s going on at around the halfway point, as I did, but then you’ll have no choice but to watch the pieces fall as they will. A few typos and the odd tone of the opening do nothing to blunt the impact of this piece.
Highly Recommended
YOU SHUT YOUR FILTHY, LYING MOUTH!
3431798
No, I'm rite :3
3431848 You hate Lesson Zero and Filli Vanilli. I find your taste in episodes suspect...
If you try to besmirch the good names of Party of One or Pinkie Pride it will mean pistols at dawn!
3431853
That will never happen! D:
3432071
I hate that episode.
Always and forever.
Worst episode.
If only because they sacrificed the message for jokes. I truly believe that there is middle ground for that. But no. They threw it out the window for a great pie fight scene that would have been worthy of a Seth MacFarlane movie.
3432186
I thought it was kinda tasteless for the episode, myself.
heh. Heh. Tasteless.
But nah, just my opinion, though. I thought it distracted from what the burning issue was. I mean, you have all that racial stuff going on and they're just like oh yeah okay let's just kill them. But we'll use pies instead of bullets so it won't be bad and people will be too busy laughing and we can slide by the topic without anyone noticing! Haha! They're stupid!
I mean, point being, if you're gonna write about that topic, then approach it. Otherwise Dave Polsky had the option to write about ANYTHING ELSE. But he chose, willingly, to lampoon a serious subject. Didn't come out too well for me.
And not that I hate the guy. I actually really like him. He's the 2nd best writer on the show IMHO. The writer I hate with a passion is Merriweather Williams, but that's aside.
Either way... I really thought that was a certain level of 'casual ignorance' that the episode was treated with.
Lesson Zero is a great episode which suffers somewhat from pulling Twilight out of character for it to work, and the moral feeling a little bit forced given how little space Twilight's friends are given in the episode. I'd rather that than a terrible episode that pulls a character out of character to work.
A Bird in the Hoof is ridiculously underrated, and if it hadn't been for the brilliant The Cutie Mark Chronicles coming straight after it (for those of us who watch seasons forwards, anyway) it might have become even more of a favourite.
Nope, still don't get the whole Adventure Clyde thing. Don't find it hilarious, don't find it unbearable. I clearly have no taste in either direction.
3432471
Ahh, on this, we can agree. :VSo, the original was a clopfic?
3433546
:|
I wonder if I can pay Horizon to just write crackfics all day.
3455686
I hope you can.