Fic recs, November 12th! · 2:36pm Nov 12th, 2015
Hey, people with money! Someone else needs your help!
I probably won't be doing it with the story that inspired this question, but would people be interested in me reviewing stories that have been cancelled? Like, stories that I've been reading that were cancelled. Obviously not going to go into cancelled stories just to review them. :B
Not much to say today somehow! Hit below for reviews of Arachnophilia by Pseudocracy, Lucky Dreams's Supper of Scootaloo Stew, What Is Missing, What Is Lost by PaulAsaran and four other stories!
H: 1 R: 2 C: 2 V: 1 N: 1
Thud by billymorph
Reading by Scribbler and Reverbrony
Genre: Ponies After People
It’s not every day you turn into a pony. For Michael, it’s not going so well.
This is a pretty different take on HiE. You’ve got one guy who doesn’t know why he’s a pony, stuck in some kind of prison cell, trying to buck his way free. It’s a single moment in time, capturing feelings and some indication of where things have been. The main character is sympathetic, if not necessarily interesting, but rendered decently in a small amount of words. What this is missing is context. It’s part of an AU setting called “Ponies After People”, which is apparently some kind of thing where most of humanity just disappeared, and whoever’s left is a pony. Finding this out explained a few things about the story, but that still meant that all context was external. Furthermore, it doesn’t really go anywhere, presenting this snapshot and ending far too ambiguously to be satisfying. Overall, it’s got the trappings of a decent psychological thriller, but you need to be aware of its greater context ahead of time.
Recommended for Ponies After People Fans
Arachnophilia by Pseudocracy
Reading by Wuten, et. al.
Mature: Sex
Genre: Comedy/2P AiE AU Clop
It’s just another sexy day in Arachnia for you and Twilight Sparkle.
Look at all those tags. Look at them. So I had the realization that, if I can’t link to the (sadly greentext) Pastebin file containing the text of this story, I probably shouldn’t link to the reading, either. <.< So if you wanna read this, go to Wuten’s channel, look it up and find the link yourself? (The reading is totally worth it, by the way.) Anyway. This would be your standard Anon in Equestria clopfic except that all the ponies are giant spiders. That’s more or less the main joke of the story, and somehow, it never gets old. I mean, if there’s a reason to read this, it’s for the title of the Daring Do book that's mentioned. Things get a little less funny during the sex scene (and yes, it’s really fucking weird, not gonna lie); if I had any complaint, it would be that the second sex scene (yes, there's more than one!) drags things out a bit. Possibly just because I’m not into that. Not that I was ever into any of this to begin with. Still, this is one of the best, and by ‘best’ I mean ‘funniest’, clopfics I have ever read.
Recommended
The Night’s Nightmare by Salnalus
Reading by Quill N. Lead, Raecheveyc and Emogak
Genre: Sad Luna
Princess Luna has a nightmare.
The biggest problem with this story is the opening. It tells us things we already know (like which princess is the older sister), repeats itself, and finishes by telling us Luna’s going to have a nightmare. If this had just cold-opened on Luna confronting Nightmare Moon, it might have at least evoked an emotional response (before ending on “it was all a dream”). But that wouldn’t help with the numerous odd word choices, overwriting and overexplaining. And then there’s the problem of Luna being portrayed as a victim of Nightmare Moon: the old Agentless Luna gambit. Even if one takes into account the age of this piece, there’s still the writing problems and hokey dialogue to be considered. In all, very much a first fic and not an effective piece.
Not Recommended
Supper of Scootaloo Stew by Lucky Dreams
Genre: Dark Comedy
Scootaloo goes on a trip to visit Rainbow Dash’s great aunt, who’s been known for eating a filly or two…
With that combination of title and description, how could I not read this? “Dark” and “whimsical” are not things that tend to go together outside the realm of classic fairy tales, but here they are, sharing a bed. This is mostly just a string of dark nursery rhyme-style poems about Dash’s great aunt, told to Scootaloo to wind her up for some reason. Of course, thinking about this gets into weird places. Is Dash making it up? If so, she’s got a good head for coming up with poetry on the spot. Is she repeating folk stories about her aunt? If so, she’s again got a good head for reciting poetry, and furthermore must not like her aunt much. Is it all true? If that’s the case, how does Dash know these things? I think all these questions are secondary to what this story was attempting to accomplish, though, which is the poetry. It’s quite amusing, all in all.
Recommended
What Is Missing, What Is Lost by PaulAsaran
Patreon Reward for Cerulean Voice
Genre: Historical/Drama
Twilight knows there’s something wrong with the Element of Magic; she’s felt it for months. But what answers could Princess Celestia have for her?
If you’re not watching PaulAsaran, let this convince you to. It’s based off a “seventh Element” prompt for a writing contest you can find more about in the description, but it’s also an attempt to take on the Tyrantlestia trope. It does so in such a simple, effective way that I’m shocked I haven’t seen the like before. What makes this work is the interplay between Twilight and Celestia. This is a story about testing their relationship, and you can’t have that happen without solid characterization and realistic emotions. To say that I approve of the particular portrayal of Twilight in this piece is an understatement. It all had the effect of wafting me through scads of historical revisionism — a general bugaboo for me — which all became understandable in hindsight. In all, this is a really excellent fanfic, no questions asked.
Highly Recommended
The Day the Reading Died by DrakeyC
Reading by Dr. Wolf
Reading by Winged T. Spears
Genre: Comedy
Twilight has a problem: she’s read all the books.
This is a single-joke fic that nevertheless got a few laughs out of me. It feels a little stretched in places, but sequences like the recounting of Twilight’s late-night crime spree make up for that. There’s not much more that I can say about this other than I’m glad there were no fourth-wall jokes, since this could have easily gone that route. It’s fun.
Recommended for Laughs
Nothing Matters by Masterweaver
Reading by Griffin Productions
Good choice of intro music! (It just goes on a bit long…) Anyway, this is the one time I’ve gone into a reading after having read the story myself. Intro aside, he’s got a nice, deep, soft voice. This is a really fun dark reading, too, perfect for last month, with lots of fairly clever audio effects to go along with the story’s textual effects. Not a good kind of story to evaluate someone on, but given that he’s passing, I think we’re set. :V
Genre: Meta
Twilight has been asked the question so many times…
This was shown to me as yet another permutation/deconstruction of the Would It Matter fad. And I have to say, the overall effect was rather lost on me, paradoxically because I’ve read most of the stories it references. It’s honestly just a laundry list of references to the various stories in the trope (mine included!), which means that you need to be familiar with at least some of them to get what’s going on, but too many and it just feels like a list. It’s wrapped up with an in-universe explanation, but honestly? It’s just sort of there. And that’s sad, because I liked the “multiple stories happened at once” angle.
Vaguely Recommended
Gotta say I disagree with you on What is Missing, What is Lost. The historical revisionism bit threw me right out of the story, and was essentially unnecessary to the plot beyond upsetting Twilight dramatically. It could be excised and replaced with entirely internal conflicts without harming the (otherwise intriguing) story in the slightest.
A-ha, I got an H! Pardon me while I preen. I'm both surprised and pleased at how well that story is doing overall.
And a big thanks to Cerulean Voice for requesting it!
I donated to Dancer.
Good on you for spreading the word.
3537708 It was to my friend Cat, actually ^^ Both she and I thank you deeply.
And PP, thank you for the signal boost. She needs all the help she can get <3
3537728
Oh I said to "you" because I thought you were the one who set up the campaign. But yeah. You're welcome.
3537728
It's all I can do, sadly. D:
Present Perfect confirmed for liking the spooder cooter. ;) Thanks for the recommendation~
3537851
I can't help it if the word "spidergina" is hilarious :(
Yay, I got noticed by PP!
Random fun trivia: Twi's breakdown in Reading was based on the exaggeration of a drug addict going through the stages of withdrawl really fast.
3538028
You can't deny the best scene in that story was when "Dare" started to play right before the webhole scene came up.
3538568
I really can't.
What is Missing, What is Lost is the first review in a long time I disagree with you on. Everything in it fell flat. Twilight just tells us that's something seems missing and always has, which borders on willful OOC, the one thing I downvote for. The revelation is "a long time ago celestia did bad things" but it doesn't try and relate it to the celestia we know, the mentor, the chessmaster, or the prankster, so it might as well be happening to anyone. And nothing even changes, so there were no stakes or impact.