For Those That Yearn for Adventure #27: Applejack's Family Bonding, Arrow 18 Mission Log: Lone Ranger, and Stairway to Equestria

In this edition of FTTYFA, we shall sneak out of our home to attend a party with our cousin Applejck! We shall also take on the roles of both an astronaut and a teenage Romanian student finding their way to Equestria via spaceship and death, respectively, as they make friends and romance (respectively) the personal protege of Princess Pelestia-I mean Celestia! Can we make out party at Sweet Apple Acres the best night ever, and get ot know Applejack a lot more? Can we identify life in this new planet over a thousand lightyears away from Earth? How will we survive in this new world after dying in our own? We have one short story, one novel-length story, and a behemoth story to get through, so let's not waste any more time!

The Short Story

Applejack's Family Bonding
by Metals
Year Published: 2012
Tags: Adventure, Romance, and Sex
Word Count: 8,465
This is a choose your own adventure story in the vein of those old Goosebumps books where it sent you from place to place based on your choices; but mine has 200% more sex.

You are AJ's cousin, invited to a family reunion with only one problem; it's a schoolnight! Can you sneak out, party all night, and pull off the greatest night of your life? Make your choices at the bottom of the page and try to have the best night possible.

How will you manage to get to the Sweet Apple Acres' party? Will you get closer to Applejack? Read the story to find out!

Before I begin, I would like to say that my review is not meant to be belittling, discouraging or insulting. It is simply my observations as I read it. Please take what I say with a grain of salt; I'm not particularly bright, so I may miss or misinterpret something. Please take what I say with a grain of salt, as I'm still trying to figure out how to review with giving the author and story their due while pointing out what could be better with it.

Review commences now

This needs to be gotten out of the way first: the coverart for this story does not reflect what actually happens. Applejack doesn't wear any skimpy clothing, nor is she worried about her business at all. Why it was used is beyond me.

Also, if you're not into cousin-cousin incest, don't bother reading this. Ctrl+F to "Arrow 18" to go to the next story review.

Anyway, contrary to how I usually begin these, I'd like to instead begin by answering an important question: what is entertaining about this story? If you can get past the thought of incest, I must say that the choose-your-own-adventure storytelling fits nicely and is done pretty well. Each chapter is a few hundred words long, and each provides an adequate and engaging amount of action. I don't quite know how to judge CYOA stories based on content, since I've only ever read two others (one of them being here), but I think the content found in each chapter has enough action to satisfy, no matter which path you take. If you're into cousin-cousin sex, I think this story can satisfy (even though I have to say that the potential taboo aspect of cousin-cousin sex isn't brought up significantly, they just get to it when it's time).

I think that's a good sign of Metals's writing. Each emotion—trepidation, bullheadedness, suspense, surprise, bliss, panic, and good old-fashion fun—get their due, while fitting the mood and event at the time. It propels the story along nicely. I especially like how constantly funny the narrator is, with its constant cocky tone. From what I remember of the CYOAs I've read, it fits the genre nicely. It makes me wonder if there are any serious CYOA stories out there, that aren't humorous (perhaps the Goosebumps CYOAs?).

To get more technical...

With all of that said, this story has a serious lack of content. In a non-spoiler manner, the story lacks the right amount of variety in its paths, in order to make itself branch out with many different twists and turns. It's less taking a different turn each time to see where you're going, and more picking a different beverage to comingle with a potential date. If you're into that, then the story won't disappoint, but if you're looking for a branching CYOA with several different endings, this isn't the one for you.

Skip this paragraph to avoid spoilers

There's only one failure path in the entire story, and it happens pretty early. The only way to fail isn by getting caught trying to sneak out, and I don't think that's enough. No matter what, you will get to spend more time with Applejack. Having sex with Applejack is a given, not a reward for playing your cards right (or completely wrong, for that matter). Applejack won't get mad at you, nor will your parents get mad at you whether you stay out late or not. There is a single path that lead to "victory," a path which I'll boast I reached the first time through, but compared to the others, it doesn't really feel like a victory path. All it does is make you return home on time. That's it. And your parents aren't even there to greet you.

In short, it could've used more branching paths, or at least more failing paths.

You and Applejack are characterized well, and there is a close connection between the two of you before, during and after copulation. Your parents, and even Cherilee and Big Macintosh play their parts effectively. Unfortunately, I don't think they all comingled very well. Big Mac doesn't play any role during the party, nor do Apple Bloom or Granny Smith for that matter. You're pretty unrestricted at the party, and no one else vies for your attention, which may make the story feel a tad empty. And even though you're Applejack's cousin, neither of your parents have any discussion about their prospects of going to the party, since one of them is family. I found that very odd.

The action itself is nice, and at least it gets to where it needs to go. The setting, though empty in description, is at least lively. There are drunk bodies lying around as you and Applejack make your way to her bedroom. Cherilee's the only familiar one there, so there's none of the other townsfolk as far as I remember. There's not a lot to gether from the setting, which I suppose is how it's supposed to be.

The last point I'd like to talk about is the grammar and prose. The writing has a party-vibe pacing, if that makes sense, with each action drawn out as much as it needs to be. I recall seeing no spelling or grammar errors whatsoever in the entire story. It runs smoothly throughout.

In conclusion, "Applejack's Family Bonding" is interesting for a party and incest story. Once again, if cousin-cousin sex isn't your thing, you might as well move on to something else. It's packed with a lot of action, and yet its lacking in content. It's upbeat, and the action's described nicely, but there are few paths to go through, making the reward at the end seem less valuable, at least in my eyes. It's a CYOA that focuses more on how characters interact, rather than where a character ends up, and I don't have the knowledge to say whether that makes it a bad CYOA or not. If you're interested at all, give it a read and see for yourself.

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The Novel-length Story

Arrow 18 Mission Logs: Lone Ranger
by AdmiralTigerclaw
Year Published: 2012-2015
Tags: Adventure, Human and Sci-Fi
Word Count: 66,597
The star system Omega Centauri was just another oddity on a map to scientists in the not too distant future. However when they found the star was orbiting an earth-sized, earth-like planet instead of a black hole as its motion had suggested, a mission was scrambled to investigate this most unusual of celestial behaviors.

Hamstrung by politics, and nearly crippled before it began, the 'Lone Ranger' mission was reduced to just one crew member and left to his own devices.

These are the logs of Arrow 18 and its lone commander. This information is classified TOP SECRET by the Global Space Agency.

Do NOT tell the princess.

What will the solitary crew member find on the planet? Why must it remain top-secret? Read on to find out!

Before I begin, I would like to say that my review is not meant to be belittling, discouraging or insulting. It is simply my observations as I read it. Please take what I say with a grain of salt; I'm not particularly bright, so I may miss or misinterpret something. Please take what I say with a grain of salt, as I'm still trying to figure out how to review with giving the author and story their due while pointing out what could be better with it.

The First Chapter

Captain Randolph Edwards is flying the Ravenstar on a solo mission to investigate a planet-like anomaly in the Omega Centauri star system, recording everything along the way in audiologs. As he approaches, he gets the uneasy feeling that something is watching him from the planet; as he draws nearer, he discovers signs of actual life.

Trees, woodland, animals resembling his home on earth are found as he lands, and he can't believe his findings! Something watches him and his ship at night, but he fails to identify what it is. During the day, he ventures out to scope the area, and comes across a single house. There are only a few seconds to observe the dominant life form—a yellow equine-esque figure—before he leaves. As the days go by, he comes closer to the colony of sentient beings, and as he observes them, they watch him back.

One day, he observes a purple creature watching him back, as if it were studying him. Gradually, they begin communicating with each other, but not by words; rather, they communicate by mathematics. Randy is a pro, and the purple creature is very good, although "her calculus is a little lackluster." The chapter ends with them continuing to exchange mathematics problems in an attempt to understand how intelligent each of them are.

Did that grip you? Do you want to read more? If so, go to the story now, because the review shall continue!

Review Commences Now

If you're wondering how scientifically accurate all of the content in this story is, you're definitely asking the wrong person. My knowledge of space exploration is so non-existent, I didn't even know what VTOL was! You can definitely find everyone smarter than I am about the science behind it all.

This review will more focused on its storytelling... and boy, do we have a story here.

This is going to color my review throughout, so let me get to it right away: this is one of the best stories I've read on this site. The level of engagement, wonder and mystery, as well as down-to-earth characterization, is mindboggling, and this is coming from a person that looked at the name of the story and thought he wasn't going to get anything out of it. Yes, I can be judgmental at times, and this one took me for a loop.

Where do I even begin? I might as well start with the style, because it uses the epistolary format very well. It's one of the few times I felt the epistolary worked to the story's advantage. Randy's descriptions contain scientific terminology and emotional reactions that blend well together and feel like he's actually there. I don't believe it's an exaggeration when I say that the level of immersion the narration brings to the story is on a different level than most other stories, even those that are of excellent quality. Randy is just astounding as a narrator, and even though his goal is to be sciency babble-guy, he comes off as really interesting. Even when he's frustrated or firm, he's a great guy to be around.

The transcripts that occurred also brought a smile to my face, because it brought me back to my college days.

The ponies are also on the same level as Randy. Twilight comes off as her regular self, and the amount of time Randy takes trying to understand her is both hilarious and intriguing. I'll admit that when this happened:

hello people. i am learning great words. i will talk more.

I had to step away from my computer because I was grinning like a ninny, and my brains were filled with too many endorphins for me to concentrate. Twilight is featured throughout the entire story, and her part as his student and partner is greatly written, and paced beautifully. I can't think of anything to criticize about it, and I don't want to add too much, for fear of dissuading people from reading it themselves. She's funny, she's cute, she's smart, she's emotional, she's friggin Twilight, man! Lookadatface!

Twilight's friends also play their part, moreso Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Rarity than Applejack or Fluttershy. They all interact with Randy how one can picture them interacting with a human like Randy, I have no complaints. It's especially interesting seeing Rainbow Dash interacting with him, since they're both involved with high-speed "gadgets," and neither spend much time on the ground. It makes perfect sense, then, that she is the closest tertiary character in the story.

The other characters—the princesses, Shining Armor, Chrysalis, the changelings, the school foals, and even Blueblood (yes, Tigerclaw, I did notice your brilliant characterization with him) play significant and interesting roles. The royal guard and night guard also lend their parts. Even the other original characters, that communicate via e-mails back on Earth, are all interesting and talk like actual human beings. The way he uses characters is amazing, and he uses most very well.

The discovery aspect of the story is also nice, and the less I say about it the better. In order to keep the adventurous aspect of this story idden until you read it, suffice it to say that Randy discovers Ponyville, Canterlot and the like with brilliant pacing, and space exploration is tied in ingeniously. Now to put some spoilers for people that have read it, I only have one comaplint about the exploration aspect: how little time is spent with either Fluttershy's cottage or at Applejack's farm. I know we were supposed to get to Ponyville, but that could've given him time to observe the dominant life forms without leaving them entirely alone. I just think it's odd that, given he only saw them for one day, he immediately jumped to watching all of Ponyville.

But that could just be me. The exploration aspect is amazing, with how cautious he is. The barriers in communication, his shame at his nudity, and his frustration at losing things were all realistic and interesting. I liked how he had a resistance to magic, and how much that actually played into the story. I liked how much time is dedicated to both Canterlot and inside Arrow 18. I like how much description was given to the Ravenstar, even if I didn't understand a majority of it (believe me, I'm an idiot when it comes to this sort of stuff). Apart from that niggle, I liked the rest of it.

For those that didn't read the spoiler, I loved the setting throughout.

The plot itself is a first-contact story, and I think it's handled very well. I'll admit I think the pacing was lacking at first, since it jumped from finding the first pony to observing the entire colony very recklessly, which seemed both a bit OOC and too quick for itself. But that's a minor complaint to how amazing the pacing is throughout the rest of the story. For a discovery story, it takes its time to guide the reader through each individual piece, introducing new mysteries and wrapping up old ones likes we're on an actual expidition. I especially like how Randy's personal emotions get into the story, forming a connection with the locals at a reasonable pace. There's not much else to say, because it's a discovery story first and foremost, so let me say that as a discovery story, it's wonderful.

In the previous paragraph, I took care to emphasize "as a discovery story." That's what it is, and it does that brilliantly. I do have criticisms for it, but I think all of my criticisms are dealing with how I want the story to be, rather than how the story actually is. Please keep that in mind; I'd like to think that my criticisms are valid, but here, they may just be a matter of personal taste.

With that said, I didn't like how some of the characters are used. Fluttershy barely appears at all, and considering she was the first one he came across, I felt bad for her being left out. The same thing happened with Spike, who's in it more, but considering how close he and Twilight are, it surprises me, looking back, how little he appears in the story. Opposingly, I thought having Luna being the one that observed Randy in the forest was not exactly wrong, but odd considering she has night guards to do that (but then again, maybe I just didn't get it). Nitpicking here, it's even surprising that Cherilee doesn't make as much of an appearance as she doe, considering Randy's looking for signs of intelligent life, and she purports an actual educational system. But that's stretching it really thin.

There are small things that bothered me as well. The biggest thing, which is really just a miniscule thing, is how Randy characterized each pony so uniquely in order to understand them, yet didn't make any mention about their different voices. Maybe that's because I'm familiar with the characters' unique voices in the show, but it did strike me as odd, considering his focus on recording what he could about them. That seems to be the only one worth mentioning, as the others are really just personal taste, things that could've been added (such as, in case anyone's interested: a section about the domestication and pet-rearing of animals by the ponies, anything about their education, anything with Twilight's parents) but considering how packed the story is with content, that's all just wishful thinking that can be completely disregarded.

The biggest problem with the story, in my eyes, isn't that any of the characters are omitted too much (except for Fluttershy); it's that the bearers of the elements are not seen as a group. I understand that this is a discovery story, and that Randy would be closest to Twilight, and he wouldn't spend as much time with the others naturally, but given how focused on friendship and camaraderie the show is, it baffled me about halfway through how little focus there was on friendship. I felt really sad that Randy had to leave, in that way that adventures that wrap up leave people, especially with Randy considering them as friends, but with how little the girls got together, I felt it didn't 100% get through. That's why I'm so bothered that Fluttershy and Spike are omitted so much.

But all of that is just me. Don't think that all of that is major; those are all just nitpicks. The story is a fantastic one, filled to the brim with worthwhile content. The characterization is some of the best in Fimfiction, the pacing is beautiful, and the audiologs were handled extraordinarily. If you like science and space exploration, then by golly, get on this. Even if you're not, get on this. This story is one I recommend to eveyone, it's that well put together.

To end on the technicals, the writing is extraordinary. There are a rare amount of errors, nothing too serious. There are two things the story does twice, though, that are out of place enough to mention for other writers. The first: the story has two instances of using the present-tense accustom when the past-tense accustomed would be grammatically correct. That could be excused as a mix-up on the log's part, but I bring it up in case other people struggle with that. The other things is the use of the word compliment. The first time, he uses it here:

I need not go into the amount of fuss that the scientific community put up in this matter. Or the resulting clamor for a long range mission. The recent introduction of the subspace displacement device has rekindled a dying interest in space travel thanks to the ability to reduce multi-thousand year voyages to a few months. Unfortunately, politics nearly killed the mission, and what was supposed to be a full crew compliment had dwindled in a manner of months down to just one person…

I don't think that's right, to be honest. The other instance is where he used the word complement when he meant compliment. That's something I notice from many other writers, so I feel it necessary to bring it up here.

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The behemoth story

Stairway to Equestria
by ALEXAROTH
Year Published: 2012-2015
Tags: Adventure, Human, Romance and Tragedy
Word Count: 350,721
There is a world where Life and Death govern all imaginable realms. A world where Watchers guard over their planets and the creatures that roam them. In this world, a young soul goes on a journey to a place he never thought existed, after cutting an untold deal with Death.
Equestria, a place of magical creatures and mysteries, offers him a new chance at life. A chance he will have to pay dearly for. This is the written story of his adventures, some of the sorrows and victories of his life as he goes through great challenges and fights his inner darkness.

At the end of this journey, one begs the question: What is better? To be born good, or to overcome your evil side through great effort and sacrifice?

Tagged with Human for the prologue.

Follows show's cannon up until end of Season 2.

What will happen to our protagonist? What role do the Watchers have for him? How will he fit in? Read on to find out!

Before I begin, I would like to say that my review is not meant to be belittling, discouraging or insulting. It is simply my observations as I read it. Please take what I say with a grain of salt; I'm not particularly bright, so I may miss or misinterpret something. Please take what I say with a grain of salt, as I'm still trying to figure out how to review with giving the author and story their due while pointing out what could be better with it.

The First Chapter (prologue)

The story begins with the narrator, Alexandru, telling us that he is now at peace. A lot of things have happened to him, and he will explain it all. But first, he's going to tell us how he lost his blindfold, in his own words.

Cut back a few years, and Alexandru is sharing a room with Germans in London on a foreign-exchange thing for school. He plays his videogames for a while, and also looks up fan art from this odd television show called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. The next day, he goes out pub-hopping (is that what it's called?) with his friend, until he feels too tired to go on. As he's heading back to his dorm, he is mugged by a person. He fights both of them off, until he's mortally stabbed by another person.

In the cloying blackness, Death tells him that it is his time. Alex refuses, and somehow repels Death. The reaper tells him that he will be back eventually, as Alex is whisked away to another world, in another body.

Did that grip you? Want to read more? Stop reading this and go check it out, because otherwise we are moving on!

Review Commences Now

Let me preface this by saying that I've not read enough HiEs, nor have I been involved enough with the fandom, to understand why HiEs are an unliked genre. If this is seen as yet another derivative HiE, then I can't be the one to tell you that.

What is it that makes this story interesting? Honestly, what I have to say may sound odd, but it's a little bit of everything. Mystery? Got it. Worldbuilding? Got it. Combat? Got it. Darkness? Got it. Character interactions? Got it in spades. The threat of death? Everywhere. Graphic sex?

...Well, no, there's none of that. Mentions of it, sure, but—I'm getting off track here.

I can't explain it as just an HiE, so let me try and describe it as just a story. Alexandru, ponified as Midnight Blink, has a robust personality. He's not a lady's man or a stud, but he is reckless and headstrong; he's not adamant on studying, but he is insatiably curious. He isn't much of a whiner, I didn't find, but he does get frustrated. He comes off as believable, to say the least.

Is he interesting? His situation takes some time to get into, and it's paced alright. Each step reveals more and more about his condition and his role in the world. Of particular note is how the story interprets his lying. It's, without spoiling, relative to what he is, and how his world was before he came here.

I'm sure some people may not like how the story calls Equestria near idyllic while Earth is full of war, hatred and cynicism. It didn't bother me, but it may bother some. This is worth bringing up, because it dictates the first of three parts of the story. He has to struggle with being in this new world, not letting people know that he is different because, according to him, it would be awkward in front of Twilight. It's weird, but it works to advance the plot and spur on character development.

His relationship with the others is actually really well developed, perhaps the best thing about the story. Spike is a stand-out character here, dealing with maturity, heartbreak and discovery, going along with Blink as things are completely screwed up. His interactions with Celestia and Luna provide a sophisticated drama that goes both between each other and with himself, shaping both the rulers and Equestria. Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie all play their roles well and interact with Blink meaningfully, though none gets more time than the others. The only character that feels left out is Owlowiscious, and that's because he plays a major role in the story yet gets very little time in it.

And then there's the main relationship, between Blink and Twilight. I'll admit that at first, Twilight not taking Blink to the hospital in order to take care of him herself is odd. They do work well together, though, with Twilight being ever-pragmatic and Blink being a cocky blockhead with magical talent out the wazoo. In non-spoilers, their relationship develops quickly yet believably, I found. In spoilers, their romance moves somewhat fast, but it made sense to me. Apologies for not fully understanding how romance works. I can't think of anything that was wrong in that regard.

I promised ALEXAROTH that I'd go more in-depth with the characters, so here it is, specifically for him, should he ever read this:

—her development as a character is believable, being aligned with Blink's own development. Considering she shares a unique and contradictory trait with Blink, it makes sense that they develop together. I didn't feel that her reactions were ungenuine at all. If I were to critique anything about her story, I'd say that the final battle she has with Trixie comes out of nowhere, not providing much in the way of development. It's cool to witness, but it's also resolved really quickly for when it comes in.

—Awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome. If you're looking for a good Spike story, then ALEXAROTH treats him very well. There's the ups and downs of maturity, and out of the secondary characters, I think he gets even more development than Twilight.

—I honestly don't remember too much important about them. Pinkie throws her parties and Fluttershy acts as a caretaker during a climactic battle in the third act, and they play their parts well enough. It makes me wonder what HiEs out there have Pinkie as anything other than a party-thrower for their non-familiarity.

—As is usual, her contribution is in the form of clothing. She does take a fancy to Blink, thought that's short-live because of here, but aside from that, her interactions are with Spike, which causes some of the second act of the story.

—Like with Twilight, Rainbow has to fight someone off. Unlike Twilight, though, it doesn't come out of nowhere. It's built up in an intense manner, and once it happens, it's full-throttle until the end. Rainbow training Spike's wings is a cool scene as well.

—She has a very poignant scene near the beginning where she confronts Blink about her past, but aside from that, there's nothing else I can remember. Actually, Applejack may've been a character that could've been more used, since her honesty would directly contradict Blink's lying nature.

—I think it's difficult portraying someone as a sympathetic bad-guy, but I think ALEXAROTH does it very well. Her role mainly comes in worldbuilding, which will be discussed soon.

:nolunapicturewhai:—Luna's more of a character-character than her sister, and her shared experience with Blink makes for a solid reason for Blink to be associated with royalty (aside from the whole Watchers plotpoint).

Everyone else: A-Ok.

I know that's nowhere near as in-depth as it should be, and I apologize, Alex, I tried.

Moving on, this story has outstanding worldbuilding. It's a major part of the story, and with Blink's past, it fits in really well. There's intrigue about the human world, about Discord, about the Griffon Kingdom, and about war in general (in that order, no less). It relies less on discovery, though, and more on Blink's own influence. He doesn't bring much hooman culture into Equestria until the end of the story, where everything's winding down. If you're looking for cultural influence, this isn't the story for you.

I apologize that I'm not hitting on specific plot points, but honestly, this story was to me like one long sustained moment of "yeah, this is entertaining." There were no moments I felt out of place. There were crests and troughs in action and suspense, no doubt, but I don't thiknk anything was misused.

That is except the last battle between Blink and Discord. It came out of nowhere, I didn't think it was handled well—

In the corner of his vision he could see the most dangerous beings in that world leaving the place meant to keep them there. The unicorn had to make a choice: he could eliminate Discord with a powerful strike and take care of his wounds, or deal with both Discord and the escaping daemons.

Blink’s decision was made in an instant. Magic erupted from the tip of his horn as he prepared to cast a spell he’d never cast before.

Sorry, Alex, but this felt very out of place for someone as cocky as Blink. In my mind, there would've been at least some more struggling, some more coming to terms with the action he was going to take, not just in an instant. Discord felt like a shoved-in antagonist at this point, not at all fitting a final adversary and final farewell for Blink.

Bringing that up, there's a lot more that I could talk about: Blink's schizophrenic darkness/shadowy side, the original characters that are all pretty good, the political talk—but I have to leave some intrigue for you guys to look at.

Finally, I have to talk about the technicals. I don't really want to, because I like the story and I want people to give it a chance, but the technicals are the worst thing about this story. I suppose that's a good thing, though, as his storytelling had me sucked in. The grammar for the most part checks out, except for tense changes being present throughout. Secondly, the chapters lengths may be troublesome, as a lot happens that could be broken up into smaller chapters, but that may be just personal taste. Just a warning, the chapters are long and have a lot going on.

The biggest problem with the technicals is the oddest one: its point of view. The story has two points of view: first person, and third-person omniscient. They're both written well, I'd wager, but they just don't go together. Especially when Blink drops the first person POV entirely in Act III. It's very confusing throughout, and I feel it works to the story's detriment. At points it wants to be first person and make a suspenseful moment for Blink to wonder about, but we know what's going on, so there really is no surprise. When it wants to be third-person omniscient, it goes off on plot lines that don't correlate with Blink's own story, such as a Spike and Rarity having a private talk. I can't justify its purpose. I feel like it should've picked one and stuck with it. I know there is a justification at the end about why the first-person is dropped, but I never felt like it was enough. Personally, I think it should've stuck with first-person.

And to add, my feelings for that are due to how philosophical the prose is. It's wonderful to read, at least for me.

Overall, despite having a few out-of-nowhere moments and a shaky point of view, I think Stairway to Equestria is a marvelous story. The characters all interact meaningfully, Blink's development is engaging, the worldbuilding is marvellous, and the action is hip-happening (I can't think of a better word). The mystery behind everything is not entirely explained, but it doesn't need to be. I give this a hearty recommendation.

And ALEXAROTH, I apologize that this took so f***ing long. And I'm assuming that its brevity won't justify that waiting time. I kept stuff omitted because I want people to go and discover it for themselves, and I hope that's okay with you. I hope this wasn't a letdown.

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What I Learned From Each Story
Applejack's Family Bonding: If I'm doing a CYOA, then the amount of endings matter just as much as the variety in interactions. That should carry over to my single-path stories, and help me with characterizing my protagonists and antagonists better.

Arrow 18 Mission Logs: Lone Ranger: People like discovering new things, and going into detail about each of them. Make sure I know the scope of my stories, and how much I need to put in to execute it.

Stairway to Equestria: Keep on going with my stories, having fun and buckling down along the way. All things have a consequence, and can shape the land for better or worse. Nothing is black and white quite like life and death.

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If You Yearn For More Adventure
#1: Fluttershy20’s “Last of the Dragonlords
#2: Toixstory’s “Freeze Frame”
November 1st: Words Failed Her by Nonsanity
November 2nd: Great Big Sky by shortskirtsandexplosions
November 3rd: 30,000 Feet by the Grey Pegasus
November 4th: Stop Me by Wing Nut
November 5th: Yearbook January by Regidar
November 6th: The Three Sisters by Wanderer D
November 7th: The Lonesome Drake by Bok
November 8th: Making Friends by arcum42
November 9th: Wheels of Fire, Wings of Fliers by ChaoticHarmony
November 10th: The Lone Crusader by Cute Reality
November 11th: The Frozen West by Cozy Mark IV
November 12th: A Rumble in Time by Lab Matt AND Broken Roads by Not_A_Hat
November 13th: Pip by Invictus
November 14th: Raiders of the Cutie Mark by DJLowrider
November 15th: The Ancient Heart of the Everwood Dragon by Grey Faerie
November 16th: The Motion of the Stars by Carabas
November 17th: Complaints Department by TheDarkStarCzar
November 18th: Height by PoweredByTea
November 19: Blue Steel Railway by writer
November 20th: device heretic's "And the Temptress Came Unto Her" and Glimmerglaze's "It's Also About Time"
#23: Imploding Colon’s “Austraeoh”
#24: cosmicbiscuit's "Fire Opals"
#25: Respite, More Than Angel, and Daring Do and the Weapon of the Ancients
#26: King of Malta's "Fashion on the High Seas"

Comments

[AlexUk]

Wow, it's been two years since we last talked I'm glad however that I finally got to read the review. There is nothing really I have to say about or in response to it. It's comprehensive and detailed, but not revealing at all. Thank you for writing it, even it it took a few years

Alex