Fanfiction Spotlight #44 with Bonus Announcement of Scribblefest 2017! · 7:41pm Jan 21st, 2017
Greetings, pony readers and writers! Welcome to Everfree NW's first fanfiction spotlight of 2017! As usual, I, Heartshine, am horrifically tardy in getting this out! (I'd give Twilight an aneurysm, I swear...) >.< Hopefully I'll be a little better at it over the coming weeks!
We've got 3 lovely stories for you this week, all of which are a little bit different from each other. Silver Flare delved into the mysterious past of alicorns, Xepher read a story about Twilight laying an egg, and I read a cute, feelsy piece about Scootaloo wondering who her mom is.
As mentioned in the title, we will be announcing Scribblefest 2017 next week! What I can tell you right now is that Scribblefest will run from February 1st-28th. So you have 1 Lunar Month to get a piece together and submitted! (Luna would be happy) Next week Monday I'll have the google form up and running for all you awesome author ponies!
And now, the part you all are actually interested in, our reviews and the stories that go with them!
Happy Reading!
-Heartshine
---- Review by Silver Flare ----
Days of Wasp and Spider
by Luna-tic Scientist
Words: 235,380 Complete: Yes
Recommended by Silver Flare
Celestia and Luna are a mystery. The theories behind their origins are as varied and numerous as the stars in the sky. Allow me to introduce, if I may, the most complex theory I’ve found so far. Days of Wasp and Spider, a hard sci-fi novel by Luna-tic Scientist, delivers a detailed account of alicorn origins that downright boggles the mind. Seriously. I would have never looked to the episode A Dog and Pony Show for sunbutt’s backstory, but that’s what makes this story incredibly unique.
Imagine a world filled with Diamond Dogs who are both sentient and very technologically advanced. As the first dominant species on the planet, they were also the first to find and use the Creation Stones (precursors to the Elements, I’d wager). The Dogs used them to create new life, in the form of alicorns and gryphons, and probably other sentient critters as well. Sounds neat, right? Well buckle up kids, because this sci-fi tale is served with a few dollops of horror, and no shortage of violent conflicts. You see, the Dogs manage to keep the ponies in check through generations of brainwashing, coupled with an insidious spell known as the ‘Blessing,’ a convenient bit of neural wiring that jolts anypony who even thinks bad thoughts about the Dogs. Not that all Dogs are bad guys, though. The author does a marvelous job making each character, even the side characters, stand out as fully-realized individuals. Hooray for murky moral quagmires!
Anyhow, enter servitor Fusion Pulse TC4668, a pony in service to one of the Dog’s numerous hives. During an experiment involving a particle accelerator, she manages to injure her horn, removing her own ‘Blessing’ in the process. In this advanced and hyper-detailed world, we follow Fusion’s journey of discovery as she begins to question her place in the world, and as she wakes up to the horrors her kind endures through slavery at the paws of their masters. Her pain, her confusion, and her eventual outrage all feel real, even visceral, as we delve deeper into the story. Add one loose-cannon gryphon cadet, one alicorn eager for violence, a sadistic Diamond Dog field agent, and a rail gun that uses the entire moon to spool up, and you’ve got an unparalleled recipe for disaster. And, underneath it all, at the quantum foam underlying the very structure of the universe, there’s a consciousness that wants to watch it all burn.
One of Luna-tic’s storytelling strengths is also a weakness: you’ll find incredible levels of detail embellishing every corner of this story. Nearly 250,000 words of it. This includes several point-of-view shifts that can really throw casual readers off if they aren’t ready for it. And you’ll end up knowing more about the composition of gryphon combat armor than you probably know about your favorite anime. But the end result is an unrivaled feeling of immersion in this expansive proto-Equestria. The violence is also related in vivid detail, so the squeamish may want to pass this one up.
All in all, the story hooked me in hard, and I can hardly wait for the sequel to finish.
---- Review by Xepher ----
Twilight Sparkle Lays An Egg
by Georg
Words: 3,467 Complete: Yes
Recommended by Xepher
Do you trust me? Then just go read the story. It's short, and you'll enjoy it. It's not, as one might fear from the title, a crackfic or anything of the sort. It's actually a very insightful character piece, with great humor, and a wonderful ending. Everything you want in a short story.
I can't say much about the actual plot without giving away the best parts, but it begins when Twilight wakes up to find her sheets curiously damp, and a large egg—complete with her own cutie mark on it—in the bed with her. This is the story's one "gimme" that is, its one "you just have to accept it" premise. Everything that follows is taken seriously. As I mentioned, this is NOT a crackfic or amature writing. Twilight reacts in the rational, logical, and nervous ways you'd expect. The other princesses likewise behave as you'd expect, and Georg does a great job with their dialog and attitudes as they discuss what has happened to Twilight.
My favorite character though, is Spike. He knows Twilight better than any of the others, and gets a great chance to prove it in front of the various other princesses. Best of all, he's written excellently here. Still young, still a bit boastful, but showing genuine understanding and compassion for his "sister" in a very grown up way.
Oh, and there's the ending. That's actually the best part of this whole thing. It completely sums up (via Spike's words) why Twilight Sparkle is such an incredible pony. Read it!
---- Review by Heartshine ----
Please Forgive Me
By RuinQueenofOblivion
Words: 8,451 Compete: Yes
Recommended by Heartshine
Scootaloo is given a writing assignment to talk about her family. In this AU piece, Scootaloo asks Twilight to find out about her adoption, and, consequently, learns about who her mother is, and the reasons for giving her up for adoption in the first place. Throughout the investigation, she begins to wonder things about herself, and wonders things about the missing mom in her life.
What I really appreciated about this story was the author’s idea of shifting 1st person perspective. I don’t see that done very often, and while it isn’t perfect, RuinQueen does an excellent job of giving each character a very unique voice. So it wasn’t the sap that drew me in (which was a part of it), nor the theme of adoption (which, as an adoptee is very attractive), but rather the fact that the author was trying something I hadn’t seen before, and made it work. All in all, RuinQueenofOblivion’s piece is cute, and a little heartwarming slice of life drama.
That, and Scootaloo is best pony.
This year, the autistic pony will place in scribblefest!
Just sayin'.
Looking forward to what you have in store. Should be a fun challenge.
I’d like to thank my associates in the academy for this award… Oh, wait. My egg story. Right. Sorry, I was a little scrambled there for a moment. Let me eggcept this honor without a bunch of eggregious egg puns making the whole thing seem like some sort of bad yolk. It was eggstremely hard work whipping this story into shape, but I was not beaten, although I was a little fried by the end because of the time I spent cooped up with the computer. Now I’m shell-shocked by the attention, and more than a little poached with pride, but I promise to keep my sunny side up and keep laying these stories out there for future generations of good eggs.
On behalf of Athena Dawn Sparkle, I thank all of you. This was an eggcellent moment in my life.
Late post is late. I can't match Georg for that puntastic acceptance post, unfortunately.
Thank you for posting that review; much appreciated!