Story Reviews » SA Reviews #87 · 12:41am Jul 19th, 2016
Seattle's Angels is a group that promotes good stories with low views. You can find us here.
The passenger cabin of the Seattle's Angels airliner rumbled.
"More turbulence?" Pav groaned, closing his laptop. "I should go up there and have a word with the pilots. It's really interfering with all the fic writing I do."
"This makes me angrier than usual!" growled Sock, grinding his teeth, to the chorus of the rest of the Angels complaining loudly.
"Okay, everybody calm down," said Alex, placating them with vague hand gestures. "I'll go ask the guys up front to try to take it easy."
He walked down the aisle to the cockpit, poking his head inside, where Arch and Red sat at the controls.
"Hey, guys? It's a little bumpy. Any way you can tone down the queasy near-death experiences?"
"Sorry mate, we're navigating the edge of a huge hype storm right now after the mid-season leaks!" Arch shouted, unnecessarily. "We gotta make sure this baby sails the wind just right!"
"I can't reach the controls," said Red, who was a tiny squirrel strapped into a too-large seat.
"In the meantime," Arch said with a frighteningly enthusiastic grin, "let's entertain the passengers by reading some reviews!"
ROUND 87
In the distant past, the various tribes had their purpose. We know this, we even have pageants about it. But how much of it is true?
Come with me and let's have a little peek at that world so long ago, before the time of Equestria.
Worldbuilding!
With that brief fanboying out of the way, what we have here is a simple, short tale about origins.
Did I say simple? That's probably a lie. In about one thousand words, the author attempts to explain what Earth Ponies are, how certain Earth Ponies function and why so many things are given the portrayal we're familiar with. There's a risk that a short story of this kind can turn into an infodump, and were it to take place in a longer fic that might actually happen. But here, alone, the headcanon fills and out and waves amongst a sad and heartbreakingly familiar tale about the reaction to people who are a little different from the norm. It leaves us on a hopeful, yet bittersweet note, and you'd be forgiven for not even noticing all of the information it just pushed out at you in the process.
Earth ponies! Huh! Good God, ya'll, what are they good for?!
Telling awesome stories, apparently.
This entry by David Silver tries to tackle that timeless question even the show hasn't bothered answering by providing not only a background story of earth ponies in general, but a theory on why the show is allowed to do what it does. There's a twist here that I found pleasantly surprising on reading through, and while sharp-eyed readers will find it in a moment, it's best to go in not expecting anything. Which isn't to say this story won't rise above expectations—it does! This is not just an infodump, but a tale of loss and the inherent fear that drives paranoia towards the unknown. This method, including the ever-charming story-within-a-story setup, means the exposition is teased out rather than simply stated, a fine example of showing over telling. If you like your ponies with a side of bittersweet, give this one a look.
Seeking shelter from a storm, a pony chances upon a small cave, but finds it already occupied by a gryphon. Despite fear and mistrust, the two of them must share it until morning.
There are times when a fic so perfectly encompases the meaning of Friendship is Magic that it becomes easy to believe that the writer is a nom de plume of one of the show's writers. What we have here is, again, a story of differences; the classic tale of two opposed people, from diametrically opposed cultures, who have no choice but to rely on one another to survive.
The slow warming of this pair to one another, the exploration of their differences and the realisation of their similarities is a staple of fiction since fiction began. This fic shares the realm of those blessed few examples that take the staple and turn it into a dish that a master chef would treasure. Its characters are complex and rounded, its setting realised in just enough detail; the lives these two have lived before and hope to live afterwards rise from the page and envelop the reader, urging him forward for just one more word, one more taste.
Delicious.
The relationship between ponies and their natural world is something a lot of authors either flat out ignore, making ponies into a direct facsimile of humans, or go a little overboard with, making ponies literally horses that just happen to think. Rare is the story that finds a happy medium, allowing ponies to simply exist as they are without the need to turn them into something else for the sake of a message or convenience. This is a story that manages to do that, making the central character, Brûlée, a believable and reasonable extension of a world, rather than someone acting independently of it.
This story, however, is chiefly about the enduring power of friendship and the way bonds can be forged through mutual suffering, in this case two runaways sharing a cave. The interaction between Brûlée and Ava, the griffon, are as intriguing as they are sweet. Many authors pass over the implication of two sentient species with very different mindsets sharing a world—Laureate manages to weave this conflict into the interplay between their characters without making it feel forced. As the two wayward travelers open up and share more about each other, it all feels natural and organic without moving too fast or feeling too artificial. This is one of the best examples of writing a coherent, cohesive, logical, and entertaining story and world you can find.
‘A horse walks into a bar...’
One evening a despondent Applejack walked into Ponyville’s tavern. The next morning she was gone without a trace.
In the days following her disappearance the inn’s landlord recounts events in Ponyville as the town searches for its lost friend, struggling to understand why she left, and where she went.
A story told through the eyes of the most background of background characters: the bartender. These creatures lurk in the dimly-lit recesses of a story's starting location, or the place where it reaches a nadir. They see everything, know every secret and can change the world with a well-timed drink and a friendly ear.
Every character of this fic is solid as oak, their personalities poured forth into cups that seem transparent, but hide complexities of flavour. The protagonist, who in any other story would get maybe a few lines and a cheeky smile, has a character that is difficult to pin down, but that leaves the reader satisfied and looking for another round.
Applejack's tall tale at the end is just icing on the cake.
There's one perspective that not a lot of stories can pull off, or bother with, and that's the side characters. They're the ones hanging at the edge of our senses, lurking at the corners of our perception, not quite important, but necessary enough that they have to be there. Often they're a vehicle to move the story along, but sometimes... sometimes you can make a whole story out of their brush with greatness.
Run for the Roses (love that title by the way) is an engaging and thoughtful look at the mane six through their interactions with a bartender, Single Measure. He's on the sidelines of an apparently epic and emotionally impactful fic that closely examines the threads connecting Applejack and the rest of the Mane Six... and yet it's still that even though he's the viewpoint character. We see bits and pieces, snatches and starts, of the conflict and resolution of this other story, and yet it still manages to tell the entire story without hand feeding it to us. The ponies are all in-character, Single Measure and his employees are well-realized, and the fic treads a fine emotional line, tugging our heartstrings without falling into all out maudlin sentimentality. This had to be my favorite of the bunch, and I cannot recommend it enough.
A tale of miserable miser Princess Celestia and her transformation into a kind and caring benefactor after visits on one Christmas Eve from the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come.
With a recent episode covering similar ground, it's interesting to look back on how the fandom has interpreted our classics into the world of Equestria. Some take it seriously, rewriting the story with new characters who, nevertheless, tread the same paths and speak the same truths as the work they've been required to emulate.
Others take a different path. To accuse this fic of taking its inspiration seriously would be to deny its simple beauty. The narrator's glorious self-awareness, displaying the sort of sarcastic wit that wouldn't be out of place in a Monty Python sketch (though later in their run, let's be fair), completely steals the show. The acts of the rest of the cast are all amusing in their own as as well, from Celestia's bemusement at her increasingly unlikely predicament, to Luna, "Luna", the guards and just about everyone else.
This is less an attempt to retell a classic than it is a story about a two sisters trying to reconnect with one another, and all the silliness that is involved in badly-planned pranks. It is a farce in the best tradition of the farce, written with love, and filled with pathos.
One of the most fun parts about Princess Luna is poking holes in her stern, placid demeanor. It's not an unfamiliar idea that Luna covers up insecurity by relying on her old vernacular and frightening appearance, and even the show has touched on that. This story takes the idea and cranks up the silliness, where Luna tries to frighten Celestia by pretending to be the actual Ghosts of Hearth's Warming Eve.
The results are predictable, but the presentation wasn't, allowing me to enjoy the story without rattling off the beats to myself. The interaction between Celestia and Luna, with Celestia's motherly indulgence and Luna's almost desperate sincerity, are heartwarmingly buoyant, keeping the story afloat. This really made me feel the keen appreciation the sisters have for each other, and I wish more authors wrote heartfelt stories like this.
"... The end!" chirped Red. "And plenty more where that came from!"
"I liked the part where there were stories!" Arch said, giving Red a thumbs up, which sent the entire plane into a barrel roll.
"We're all gonna die," Alex muttered, trying to keep a tight grip on the floor.
"Can't do that yet, new ponies in two weeks!" Red chortled, grabbing a stick and using it to shove the throttle forward. The entire plane shuddered from the acceleration.
"Whoop, another wave of hype incoming!" Arch cheered over the intercom as he angled the nose downward. "Everybody get your hands in the air!"
They did, and screamed a lot.
Feel free to visit our group for more information and events, and to offer some recommendations for future rounds. See you all next time!
Jeez, you guys make these stories sound like Jesus himself came down and wrote them for our reading pleasure. Why must you inflate my RiL so?
4100541
Aren't you still one of them? If you wanted, you probably could load up your RL list with these stories way before they make it to a round.
Also worth pointing out that Jesus told parables, so he's got a crap-ton of short stories to his name. Considering that half of them are dated as fuck, they're alright I guess.
4100541 Because you love it. Run for the Roses is especially amazing.
4100604
I am, and yes, I could. But collaboration is done mostly between whoever is working on the current round, unless they ask us others for leads. I'm also a supporter of no_spoilers_rarity.jpg, so more often than not I end up only seeing the final product of a round I'm not a part of.
What? No line to slap the hysterical passenger? No Reviewer haunting the wing? No in flight peanuts? What kind of flight is this?
Excellent assortment this round
Thank you for the kind words of The True Origin of Earth Ponies! It's nice to see my intended thrust was true.
Thank you for appreciating my story and what I was trying to achieve. I received a huge amount of help from my editors, so the role of Messiah isn't mine alone.
So that's why the story is getting so many bookshelf adds lately! Thanks for the mention.