Read It Now Reviews #92 – BBBCF, Team Cohesion, Thorax is Secretly a Changeling, Your Money or Your Life, Bowled Over · 8:59pm Aug 29th, 2016
For those of you who might not have heard, HoofBitingActionOverload is going to be unpublishing all his stories in a week, as he is planning on disassembling them for parts for original fiction. I’ve reviewed a bunch of them, and many of them are well worth your time to read.
Expect to see reviews of at least a few more of them this week, as there are some you folks should check out while you’re still able to do so.
That aside, there are other things going on in the world as well, and I thought I’d get back on the reviewing horse and get them read.
Today’s stories:
BBBCF by Horizon
Team Cohesion by FanOfMostEverything
Thorax is Secretly a Changeling by Palm Palette
Your Money or Your Life by Gulheru
Bowled Over by Baal Bunny
BBBCF
by Horizon
Alternate Universe
1,777 wordsThere's a lot of things about Cadance and Shining Armor that never quite made sense: their sudden appearance before the Royal Wedding; their suspiciously convenient suitability as rulers of the Crystal Empire; their oddly abbreviated pregnancy; and even their quick change of heart after Spike asked them to forgive Thorax.
Twilight Sparkle knows exactly how deep that conspiracy goes — she was there in the beginning, when her hive's queen created Shining. And she wasn't happy about it.
Why I added it: I liked it in the writeoff. Also, as an admin of the X becomes a changeling group, I’m pretty much obligated to read it.
Review
Twilight is told she has a brother a short time before A Canterlot Wedding. This is going to terribly complicate her cover, seeing as she didn’t have a brother before.
But as one of the best changelings, having a new brother added into your life is something you should be able to cover for, right?
She doesn’t like it, though. She loves her friends, and doesn’t want to keep lying to them about who is really in charge of the country…
This story basically posits “What if all the alicorns in Equestria were actually changelings?” and keeps running from there. Set before A Canterlot Wedding, it plays with the idea that Twilight’s brother really didn’t exist before that point, and that the changelings in charge of Equestria have a very different agenda and mentality than Chrysalis’s hive.
It is basically a conspiracy theory story which replaces canonical plotholes with ridiculously wild speculation, and it has a lot of fun with it. If the idea of a story which hints at a greater conspiracy behind the scenes which explains some of the plot holes we see in the series, you’ll likely enjoy this.
Recommendation: Worth Reading.
Team Cohesion
by FanOfMostEverything
Comedy, Drama
2,194 wordsIt's time for the Wonderbolts' weekly media roundup. This time around, the newest member has a simple question with a rather complex answer.
Why I added it: FanOfMostEverything is a good writer.
Review
Rainbow Dash learns about the weekly tradition of the Wonderbolts: reading about all the ridiculous things that the tabloids make up about them. Which are clearly all ridiculous, and none of them are true at all.
Obviously. 
This is part of a “ship sinker” contest, but contrary to the story’s summary, it actually isn’t a major feature of the story; it is just the ending of it, with the bulk of the piece made up of ponies making fun of silly things the tabloids had to say about them.
Ultimately, your enjoyment of this piece is contingent on whether or not you like the idea of listening to a long back-and-forth about ridiculous things that are being said in the press about ponies we barely know (though, fortunately, most of the jokes are fairly obvious, often appearance-based). Unfortunately, it doesn’t have a whole lot of sticking power; it is just a bunch of kind of silly stuff that happens until there’s a bit of a blow-up, and then it ends with a little joke.
Personally, I didn’t really feel like this ever really went all that high; there were lots of mildly funny things in it, but it never really rose to a crescendo or left much of an impact on me. It isn’t bad, but it just didn’t quite do it for me.
Recommendation: Not Recommended.
Thorax is Secretly a Changeling
by Palm Palette
Comedy, Dark
2,167 wordsBeneath his black, chitinous exterior, cold blue eyes, and fang-toothed grin, Thorax holds a dark secret. He knows better than anyone that the best way to hide a changeling is with another changeling, but that's pointless, right? He's already a changeling.
Why I added it: It was featured, and I’ve seen this idea before and was interested in seeing a different take on it.
Review
No one ever expects a changeling to be posing as another changeling.
Maybe they should.
This is a story about Thorax wandering around the Crystal Empire, talking to ponies about changelings, and being amazed at their trust and admiration, all while hiding his terrible secret – that he’s not Thorax at all.
Unfortunately, this story seems to pretty heavily hinge on a plot twist which it gives away in its story summary, while the rest of the story has some mildly amusing stuff but really seems just kind of flimsy and lightweight. It just kind of feels like filler and only a few of the scenes – like the bit with Shining Armor – seem to really reinforce the ending.
All in all, I feel like other stories have used this twist in a more meaningful way. Here, it is just a twist for the sake of a twist, versus stories like Hearth Swarming Eve and Interview with a Changeling, which used the trick to further a grander narrative. If your story hinges on a twist, having it come out too soon to the audience is dangerous; this is why the best way to make use of a plot twist is making use of it to further some sort of idea or message or the story itself – if the twist is the plot, then after you know what the twist is, there’s nothing else left for the reader.
Recommendation: Not Recommended.
Your Money or Your Life
by Gulheru
Comedy
2,259 wordsPrincess Cadance, just like everypony else, needs some time of leisure from her many duties. While Shining Armor is taking care of their daughter, Cadance enjoys her lone trips to the nearby Nephrite Forest, where she can be away from all of her burdens and obligations for at least a short while.
She was simply destined to get mugged eventually, wasn’t she? Why not by somepony who takes his job very seriously.
Why I added it: It was featured.
Review
Princess Cadance is confronted by a very polite, legalistic highwayman during an otherwise relaxing walk.
This is one of those comedies which really hinges on whether or not you find the absurdity of the situation funny. In this case, the highwayman speaks in extremely legalistic terms, polite and surprisingly accommodating even as he threatens Cadance.
A pony has to make a living, after all.
I suspect that this story is going to be pretty hit or miss for people; either you think that the idea of being robbed by a lawyer-cum-bandit is funny, or you don’t.
Personally, I found it amusing, but a lot of it is pretty dry; it takes a while to really get going, and I only really smiled at the end. This is kind of a borderline story, but if you’re up for some pseudo-legalistic humor, it might be up your alley.
Recommendation: If absurd humor based on overly-formal language is your thing, this might be up your alley. If dry, absurd humor isn’t your thing, it probably isn’t.
Bowled Over
by Baal Bunny
Slice of Life
5,801 wordsWhile trying to help Applejack with some baking, Starlight Glimmer accidentally shatters a mixing bowl that belonged to AJ's mother. This leads to frenzied research, a discussion of the universe's fundamental nature, several whirlwind races across Ponyville, an attempted theft, and the possible creation of a new form of magic. You know: the usual.
Why I added it: Baal Bunny/Augie Dog is a good writer.
Review
Starlight Glimmer accidentally broke one of Applejack’s mother’s mixing bowls. Applejack said it is no big deal, but Starlight Glimmer knows full well that it is.
So what is there to do but glue it back together?
The problem is, of course, that nopony has ever invented a permanent gluing spell for anything smaller than a wagon wheel, so she’s going to have to invent new magic.
And retrieve the parts from Applejack’s trash.
And get all of her friends to help her in her madcap scheme to do so before the parts are lost forever and it is impossible for even magic to help.
This is a story about magic, about Starlight Glimmer’s view of magic and by extension the world, and about Starlight trying to be a friend even when she messes up, and understanding just what it is that makes them all friends and brings them together. Starlight’s fractured view of things, and her view of how magic works, really explains a lot about her, and the story as a whole works well in fitting together the (heartwarming) conclusion.
If you’ve liked other stuff Baal Bunny has written, you’ll very likely enjoy this.
Recommendation: Worth Reading.
Summary
BBBCF by Horizon
Worth Reading
Team Cohesion by FanOfMostEverything
Not Recommended
Thorax is Secretly a Changeling by Palm Palette
Not Recommended
Your Money or Your Life by Gulheru
Not Recommended
Bowled Over by Baal Bunny
Worth Reading
Time to get back to writing my own stuff. Expect at least one story and another review set this week.
Number of stories still listed as Read It Sooner: 153
Number of stories still listed as Read It Later: 538
Number of stories listed as Read It Eventually: 1960
Glad you liked BBBCF!
I'm gonna have to mildly disagree on Thorax is Secretly a Changeling, because there's actually two twists, and one is obvious from the beginning, and the other one caught me totally by surprise. Even though the second twist came out of nowhere, it was a novel approach, and I have to give this points at least as an idea story. And it had its share of strong moments, like the ending of the cookie scene, even if it could have used more coherence in the prose tying the narrative together. I upvoted it on the strength of its ideas.