Fic recs, December 31st: Patreon edition! · 1:24pm Dec 31st, 2015
Welcome to the final review journal of 2015! Yes, this is what I had tried to post yesterday before realizing I could do more. This is a final thank-you to all the folks who supported my Patreon. :) So what I did was look each of them up in the search bar and pick the first story that came up. The exceptions are Neighrator Pony, who has no stories, Singularity Dream, who only has one that I've already reviewed,Wingmares, and horizon, because his name is really common in titles, go figure so I just grabbed whatever was highest-rated in his gallery. :B Enjoy.
H: 0 R: 4 C: 5 V: 1 N: 0
Purple Prose, or A Night at the Clopera by Bradel
Genre: Ponies Writing Ponies
Twilight has to figure out a way to hide her fantasies about Luna before her dreams give her away.
Yes, so of course Twilight writes self-insert fanfiction in the hopes that it will get her over Luna before Luna finds out. This is a pretty fun piece, unique in that Twilight’s feelings are the source of her problems in a very non-shippy way. Honestly, this is more about obsessive thoughts making our lives worse than actual romance, and I’m perfectly fine with the way things go in the story, especially given that it doesn’t hit ASS levels. It’s maybe a little quickly-paced, but again that works in its favor. If you can handle a story about Twilight being really, really horny for Princess Luna, I think this will please.
Recommended
Friendship Theory by Noble Thought
Reading by Scribbler, NeighratorPony and Muse Script
Genre: Slice of Life
Moondancer has her own old friends to reacquaint with.
This is a really marvelous little piece connecting two unlikely characters in a likely way. This is a story about reconciliation and redemption built on small details, like the state of Moondancer’s family, that make it feel real. Honestly, I don’t have much to say other than it’s definitely worth reading.
Recommended
Burning Day Brethren by Cerulean Voice
Genre: Harry Potter/Pokemon Crossover
At long last, Philomena doesn’t have to spend her Burning Day alone.
This is built around some unique phoenix-based headcanon and a daft crossover. It’s at its best when centered around the more familiar MLP lore. Unfortunately, the narrative is a little flat, and I did not particularly like the way Fawkes was written. I don’t know if he’s got a certain character in the books, but he’s just kind of a little chucklehead in this. It’s also fairly thin on plot, being one of those crossovers that’s an excuse for multiple characters from disparate worlds to interact. It might be fun if you like that sort of thing, but overall, it’s not one of Cerulean’s better stories.
Vaguely Recommended
Face Full of Sunshine by Alexstrazsa
Mature: Sex
Genre: Face-Sitting
Fluttershy has a very unusual request for Princess Celestia.
The only reason I can think of for why I might have read this before is that I am a very good friend. :B I’ll admit to mostly being amused by the writing (this is marked as a comedy, after all) and bemused by the whole premise. Why Fluttershy? I dunno. But she’s written well, considering, and Celestia is too, bridging that age-old gap between her canon and Molestia personalities. The POV is a little wobbly, and there’s maybe one typo, but in all, this is fun, funny and decently written.
Recommended If You’re Into That
An Epic War Story but I Spilled Juice on the First 18 and Last 5 Chapters by Protopony350
Genre: Comedy
So the main joke is meta: this is chapter 19 of an otherwise lost story, so we’re seeing all this crazy shit that has happened without any context. Fluttershy has a “Crystalline Relic”, Trixie is leading an army of Reborn, King Sombra is taking the last stand against Cadence to protect the Crystal Empire. What does it mean? Who knows! So, as an adventure-slash-war fic, this is a little lacking, being pretty fast-paced and with some typos and general errors. As a comedy, it’s spot-on. You really do get that sense of epicness-which-hath-transpired that you will never be privy to. The excitement ramps up and then hangs on a thread. This is a really good parody of lengthy war fics, no lie.
Recommended for Laughs
The Derpy Files by Soge
Genre: Comedy
There’s a conspiracy in Ponyville, and Derpy Hooves is the pony who’s going to uncover it!
This is a really hilarious sendup of classic conspiracy theories, from the Illuminati to chemtrails to “X was an inside job”. It's all wrapped up in various background things from season 2, and even season 1, not least of which is the Where’s Waldo with Derpy. (The opening scene reminded me heavily of Alarm Clock.) The problem is the writing. There are tons of errors and the dialogue often sounds stilted. There’s even a broken image tag! Overall, I did not find this impacted my enjoyment of the story too much, but it’s still an issue to keep in mind.
Recommended If You Can Forgive Typos
Fugue State by horizon
Genre: Romance
It’s the musicals that are straining Lyra and Bon-Bon’s relationship.
You’d think a story about the intoxicating magic of musical numbers would be a ripe field for comedy. So here comes horizon to prove that you can wrench gut-pounding drama out of it instead. Given Lyra’s reactions, life in this world is near hellish, when one can’t even be sure that their thoughts or feelings are their own. It’s the place of musicals in pony life that really intrigued me, though, the weight and significance they’re given (which makes sense, considering how often we see them in the show). The fact that background shots from Magical Mystery Cure were used to plot this out is really amazing. I’ve never felt so pleasantly off-kilter while reading a story. While it moves a little fast, this is absolutely worth experiencing.
Recommended
A Wind in the Petunias [Human] by Super Trampoline
Sequel to A Wind in the Petunias (Alternate Universe)
Genre: EiH
The sudden appearance of a pony in her garden changes a woman’s life.
I’ve never had to explain a story title before. This is listed as being a sequel to another story with the exact same title but a different tag, but it turns out, if you follow the links, you’ll go through a lot of that and come back around to this one. With that in mind, I’m assuming one can jump into this cycle anywhere, so here I am. It’s a very interesting story, all told, taking place after World War 2, with anti-Soviet sentiment heavy in the minds of Americans. It doesn’t quite draw one into the time period, but I do at least appreciate the effort. What bothered me was the tone. I know Super Trampoline as one of those wacky crackfic writers, and this has trappings around the edges of something meant to be flippant and silly. But it’s obviously also intended to be taken seriously, so the writing strikes an odd balance of not-quite-real. Which could work, I suppose, but it left me feeling befuddled. It’s also paced a little fast. Regardless, I feel like I need to explore this series more.
Recommended as Light Reading
Fifteen Dinners by Quill Scratch
Genre: Shipping/Drama
Fifteen meals paint Rainbow Dash’s relationships.
“Ambitious” is not a word I often use to describe fanfiction, but it’s always wonderful seeing an author take a leap and try something original. To wit, this piece is presented to us not only using the fifteen titular dinners as a frame, but with the chapters in reverse chronological order. That said, I didn’t realize the latter fact until six chapters in, after someone pointed it out (and I thought they were crazy) and we finally get a timestamp that’s two months earlier than chapter one. So I was quite impressed off the bat, between that, a believably introspective Rainbow Dash, some well-conceived TwiDash and a side plot about some drama with Scootaloo.
Unfortunately, my opinion of the story took a nosedive at the halfway point and never quite recovered. Finding out the reason why Scootaloo was upset with Rainbow was good — it sure as heck justified Scoot’s reaction to her — but what prompted that event wasn’t. I just had to ask, why can’t Scootaloo’s adoptive parents just be rich snobs? Why do they have to be homophobic, too? And in the same scene where Celestia’s previous marriages to both stallions and mares are mentioned? How can homophobia exist in a world where the ruler of the land, who’s ruled for generations, literally loves all of her subjects equally?
As the reasons for the actions of the characters at the start of the story come to light, I found myself growing more and more disappointed. Rainbow and Twilight’s relationship is built off of Alien Shipping Syndrome and Magical Mutual Attraction. The drama with Scootaloo came out of a doctor not telling either Scoot or her adoptive family the results of a medical test that same family asked for. There’s also a scene where Twilight apprehensively tells all her friends she’s dating Rainbow Dash, after which we discover that not only did Rainbow go to Rarity for dating advice, but both Pinkie and AJ knew that Rainbow liked Twilight. I mean, sure, Fluttershy probably needed to know, and attraction isn’t the same as dating, but it just felt like one more thing that didn’t work. To say nothing of the cider addiction and Wonderbolts training mentioned in the description. The former is mentioned in precisely two chapters, coming out of seemingly nowhere, and the Wonderbolts never have the kind of buildup Rainbow’s other relationships do, just popping in for a dinner in chapter three and never being a plot point again. And that’s on top of the occasional missing comma, close repetition, bits of LUS, a POV switch at the start of chapter 10 and the occasional Britishism that made Dash (especially) not sound like herself.
Overall, I want to impress that I’m still very pleased by this story’s structure. But that’s about it. I want people to be experimental like this first and foremost. It’s just always the danger that experiments can fail, and in this case, the story just didn’t satisfy.
Recommended If You Like Structure Over Story
A New Perspective by ArgonMatrix
Genre: Friendshipping
A strong winter storm gives Rainbow Dash cause to better understand her friend.
Man, remember when mane cast friendshipping was necessary? I’m not sure you could do stories like this anymore. What Rainbow learns about Fluttershy seems obvious to us the readers, but we are omniscient in ways Rainbow Dash is most certainly not. I think it’s the way Fluttershy gets her to understand that makes this piece work. Doesn’t hurt that it’s cute as fuck, too. :V This will satisfy slice of fans and more.
Recommended
You know, I kept telling people that, but they still insisted on featuring it on EqD and TRG. Go figure.
At least the sequel has a valid reason to exist, and an actual plot(!)... now if only I could get around to finishing it.
I got a recommended from PP. Woo! Though I must warn you that is the best of the Petunia Cycle, and I really ought to hurry up and actually write the 5 or 6 I haven't written yet. Still. Recommended, wooo!
Good sir, do I need to slap you? Do you not recognize genius when in its presence? This is such an amazing and unique and brilliant piece, and it merely recieves a plain "recommended"?!?! Blasphemy!
You know what's silly? A New Perspective came about because I was tired of the FlutterDash shipping I was seeing everywhere at the time, so I took a setup that could easily have been used for such a story and tried to do something different with it. I forgot how much fun it was to write that story, and how much I honestly like it. I oughta write more like that.
At any rate, thanks for the rec! And thanks for a great year of recommendations, too. Here's to an even better 2016!
3653633
It's a neat idea, but it was rushed and I don't think it quite explored its full potential. horizon's done better. :B
H: 0 R: 4 C: 5 V: 1 N: 0 --- What does that even stand for?
3653732 Ranking quick reference:
Highly Recommended, Recommended, Conditionally Recommended, Vaguely Recommended, Not Recommended. #/5.
They're right on his profile. He does this a lot, so naturally it's best to shorten it! It's the category, then the number of stories today that fall under said category. Today, there are four recommended stories (R: 4).
3653865 Guess that's what I get for not going to peoples user pages often. Thanks for the info.
Ah yes, Face Full of Sunshine. Truly my magnum opus.
3653673
I would definitely argue "rushed" (I sweated blood editing it for a month or two in some EqD-mediated revisions), but if the pacing didn't gel for you, then it didn't gel for you. For the record, I don't think I'd call it my best story either, despite its persistence at the top of my rankings. (My personal pick for magnum opus, and certainly the one with the most heartfelt critical acclaim, is Thou Goddess — though with Fugue State and the upcoming Time Enough For Love both nipping at its heels, maybe I need to give in and just admit that romance is my sweet spot.)
3653633
Thank you, though!
3656187
And I would totally agree with you on Thou Goddess. Like, pre-empt you even. That and Melt are your absolute best.
Aw man, all that bribe money wasted!
3656522
write another friggin' story :V
Oh god, The Derpy Files... Fun fact: That is my second piece of creative writing in English ever. And of course I didn't believe in silly things like "editors" or "proper proofreading" at the time. All those typos make me cringe so hard now...
I had drafted a sequel, involving Derpy and the Canterlot Wedding, but was too lazy to actually write it.
Anyway, thanks for reviewing this.