Fic recs, June 12th! · 5:34pm Jun 12th, 2016
Well, so much for my big audiobook. :/ But I said I was gonna do minifics, so have minifics. But first, the news...
I like stats, do you like stats? Go check out these Fimfic stats, they're crunchy. :3
ShadowOfCygnus continues his oldfic reading rampage! uSea's Twilight October and EbonMane's classic The Cough are next on the list!
Are you a fan of gay space rocks? Go check out Horse Voice's Steven Universe Meets Sun Tzu! It's a fun little story that takes a look at the battles Steven and company have won, through the lens of The Art of War.
And stay tuned, because I'm about to have an announcement of a non-pony fic myself! :V (It's up!)
H: 1 R: 5 C: 9 V: 2 N: 0
The Lotus Eaters by Cold in Gardez
Genre: Optimalverse
Ponies who taste the lotus are ponies who know joy.
It says something about this story that, until Celestia was mentioned, I thought it might be set prehistoric, like A Drop of Sunlight. It says something completely different that it took me reading the comments to figure out what 'verse this was set in. c.c At least that explains how this pony could slam into a cliff side fast enough to cause a rockslide and not die. As for the rest of it, it's a very visceral, immediate bit of sense-building, and really sells the high these ponies get from eating these flowers. A worthwhile experiment.
Recommended
Behind It All by Esle Ynopemos
Genre: Slice of Life
Applejack and Fluttershy are Ponyville's greatest matchmakers.
There's not much more to this than setting up the above premise. Twilight finds out, she hears the story of how Lyra and Bon-Bon got together, there's a ship tease at the end. This would probably work better as a longer story (much like Bitter Harvest before it!), but as it is, might appeal to shippers, despite not being much of a romance.
Recommended for Shippers Only
Filly Tales by Esle Ynopemos
Genre: Slice of Life
I like the juxtaposition between the simple explanations for Fluttershy's questions and the darker, more serious reasons why those things happen. That said, this again feels like an outline more than a story. Actually making her mother's answers into full, even short, tales in their own right, would help sell things. And honestly, I found myself slightly mystified at the goings-on at the end of each 'explanation' scene. But it's still a neat idea.
Recommended as Light Reading
A Unicorn Thing by Esle Ynopemos
Genre: Comedy/Romance
Applejack didn't see anything happening between Twilight and Rarity.
This is really, really funny, starting as it does after the fact and focusing on trying to cover up the recent noodle incident. The title is hilarious in context. That said, it's weird that Applejack calls Twilight "hon", and the ending is oddly serious given its buildup. But this will be worth reading for anyone who likes shipping in their comedy. :)
Recommended for Shippers
A Foot in the Door by Pascoite
Genre: Cute Shipping
Truffle Shuffle leaves a present for a certain filly in class.
Ahaha, this story is so frickin' cute. :D It avoids a lot of pitfalls that could come into foal shipping, leaving us with a very pleasant story about a mature young colt who can take a hint or two.
Recommended
Oh My. by Nonagon
Genre: Comedy
Rarity comes home to a surprise.
This one needed maybe another sentence to really drive itself home. As it is, it falls a little flat; I mean, yeah, there's what happened, it's obvious. So what?
Vaguely Recommended
It's Never Too Late to Say Sorry by FuzzyFurvert
Genre: Science Fiction
Twilight despised what Canterlot had become.
Centuries in the future, Equestria is a technological wasteland where Enlightened evolve from their organic shells while others waste away in outmoded squalor. It's awesome. The end result is kind of a halfway-there Friendship Is Optimal with Twilight the driving force rather than an AI that looks like Celestia. Nestled in this Blade Runner-esque setting is a story of forgiveness. As this stands, it's a bit more world-building than actual plot, and I can see lots of room for expansion, but reading it was… I dunno, 'comfortable' comes to mind. Like meeting an old friend again after a long time. This site needs more sci-fi.
Recommended
A Short Visit by HoofAndQuill
Genre: Sad
This takes a bit from Princess Twilight and uses it to good effect with Applejack. That said, I feel like the second half wasn't really necessary; from the setup, it's obvious what's going to happen, and I'd have liked things to stay in Twilight's perspective. But for what it is, it's a good use of the concept.
Recommended If You Like Sad Fics
Necessary Evil by FanOfMostEverything
Genre: World-Building
The Hollow Shades are not a nice place.
As the A/N says, this is not much of a story, but it's certainly interesting. Others have done similar things with the Everfree before, but the mixture of specific images with questions of why Celestia would allow such a place to exist do a lot to build an atmosphere.
Recommended If You Like World-Building
After-Action Retort by FanOfMostEverything
Genre: Sister Bonding
Luna comforts her sister after a grueling press conference.
Said press conference is posted in a journal linked at the end of this story. It's a good thing they're separated, because they're very different tonally, and knowing what Celestia's upset over isn't really important. What is important is that Luna's really great in this, and of course this was full of the loving royal sister dynamic I adore. Short but sweet.
Recommended
The Narrator Hears Twilight by Admiral Biscuit
Reading by ShadowOfCygnus
Reading by Scribbler and Wuten
Genre: I Don't Even Know
Yeah, uh, so Twilight Hears the Narrator was a Thing once; I guess that makes this a comedic inversion? I don't even know how to approach it, though, it's just so fucking weird. Just read it, it's short.
Recommended for Laughs?
Orientation by AugieDog
Genre: Poem
It's interesting, how this differs from the more standard sonnet structures. That said, I felt it was a good bit weaker than Augie's other poems. The shortness certainly doesn't help, and the last line is very eh. I guess it's just proof that we're all human, yeah?
Recommended If You Like Poetry
Bitter Fruits by Silvernis
Genre: Drama
Flim is ready to settle down, but he's the only one…
I really like the setup here, but if this one doesn't stick with me, it'll be because I feel like I've seen the conflict before. (Indeed, I'm reminded of the Granny Smith/Flim-Flam comic.) The familial drama plays out in a fairly standard way, and Flam's reason for being so obstinate feels like a need to paint them as misunderstood victims. That in particular is what soured me on this. But they do both feel in character, and again, I like the idea.
Recommended as Light Reading
On Forensic Accounting & Choral Singing by GhostOfHeraclitus
Genre: Equestrian Civil Service
They have a week to save the Equestrian economy, then Leafy can arrest the bugger who started this mess.
HIgh time I started tagged these properly. :) Anyway, this is the first ECS fic I've seen starring Leafy Salad, Dotted Line's erstwhile (and irascible) Guard friend. Putting him in the forefront gives this a much different angle than if Dotted or someone else were the main character: a crooked banker's hamfisted embezzling has put Equestria in a "too big to fail but failing anyway" scenario, and Leafy just wants to arrest the bastard before he can flee the country, but they need his help to turn things around before the value of the bit hits rock bottom. You can see the issue, here. In true ECS fashion, this is hilarious, because Ghost is a wizard who can make accounting funny. This is a perfect example of what makes this verse a great read, to say nothing of Ghost's writing in general. :D
Highly Recommended
Soul Proprietorship by Sharp Spark
Genre: Comedy
Minuette sells her soul for her heart's desire. Again.
Y'know, it's really hard to call these "minifics" when people make 'em three or four thousand words long. <.< Anyway, I hope you like Rolling Stones references, this thing's full of 'em. Also, I hope you like random shipping, because this starts with Twilight and Minuette in a relationship. But the real story here is an escalating comedy of hellish proportions (eh? eh? :V) about the legalities of selling one's soul. Of course, I've always liked ponified depictions of Satan, and there's plenty of that to go around. The downside is, it turns out to be chapter one of a story that never finished, so while there's plenty to offer here, it ends on a dark note without any kind of resolution. But if you're okay with that, there's a lot to like about this. :D
Recommended
Defilement by Bombastic Bookpony
Genre: Crackfic
Applejack's hat has been stolen.
Funnily enough, this is based on the same prompt as A Unicorn Thing above. I wonder if that means the two compilations will be in sync? Well, anyway, this is funny enough, but it suffers a bit from overreach in the narrative. I mean, talking to the reader, lapsing in and out of AJ's POV, and not quite in a way that's actually funny. Still, the prompt itself is funny enough, and I like where the author took it, this just needs some polish.
Vaguely Recommended
Twilight Tries to Explain the Monty Hall Problem by Eakin
Genre: Comedy
I watch a series on Youtube called Numberphile, which I heartily recommend to anyone with even a passing interest in math. In fact, if you don't know anything about math, it might be a good idea to go back and watch the whole series from the beginning; the shit they get up to is fascinating, and some of the mathematicians they talk to are real characters. My point being, I've seen the Monty Hall Problem referenced and explained numerous times, so I was kind of bored by this. The saving grace is the reactions of the mane cast to Twilight's explanation. (Just think about how any of them might feel about the prospect of winning a goat and you'll get the picture.) Twilight slowly freaks out, the others don't get it. It's good fun, and definitely a thing.
Recommended for Laughs
Is Equestrian Civil Service a functional genre? I have a folder labeled "bureaucracy" with GoH's stuff in it, but I can't think of any other examples other than Admiral Biscuit's tax office gag stories. I mean, if there's a hidden vein of Yes, Princess fic out there, I'd like to know about it.
Some good stuff here, and notably Ghost's is in itself proof that frequently attaching adverbs to speech tags can, when done with thought, turn out beautifully.
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I've been labelling them "Bureaucratic Comedy", but the Equestrian Civil Service does exist as a 'verse, and should be tagged such! At the very least, a couple other folks like Bad Horse have absconded with Dotted Line now and then.
Aww shucks, thx.
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I think I was thinking of you in the above comment, though, so it evens out. :B
Thanks for the kind words, PP. I'll note that the one of mine you read is actually in the context of another series of silly stories that deal with Twilight and Minuette taking care of supernatural shenanigans, and mainly rely on me stringing together lots of jokes and occasional feghoots. Those are in turn based on a longer and slightly more serious story about their relationship that I think you read when it made it into RCL.
It wound up in this collection rather than the other because it never got its back half and I was dumping my incomplete works when I knew they would never get finished. That's just to explain the random shipping; I doubt you need another short fic compilation on your plate.
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Oh HO ho ho! :O I wouldn't have guessed that! Mostly because I forgot you wrote that. :B Don't feel bad, I forgot someone else's story today, too. That's why I write all this stuff down.
Ooh! Thanks for the plug!
From the authors' note at the beginning of the story:
4019215
Familiarity isn't necessary! I therefore completely ignored the note! D:
Poor Spike:
Even in poetry, he gets the fuzzy end of the lollipop...
Mike
They're also already out of date. I guess that's what publishing every day will do to someone's stats.