Fic recs, February 21st! · 7:56pm Feb 21st, 2017
Once again, no real news. :B I gotta go do tax stuff today, gross. Tried to read a couple fics on my own, not just the audiobooks. Also, got some new fic readers!
H: 0 R: 3 C: 4 V: 0 N: 1
Starlight Glimmer Is Replaced by a Raging Dumpster Fire by Justice3442
Genre: Random Comedy
A fic with a title like this? You bet your bootie I'm gonna read it right away. And I was right to; it contains the phrase "shouting terror dump monster". XD Anyway, you can expect a lot of silliness, a bunch of typos, some political commentary, and mostly just dumping on Starlight, which I'm all for. Not horribly substantive, doesn't have the best punchline, but for its length, it's sufficiently amusing. :)
Recommended If You Like Random Comedy
Resurrection Beat by dramatic_spoon
Reading by Ashely Rose, et. al.
This was a mess, and hard to review besides. :( The levels are all over the place, from a super-loud filly in the first scene to a super-quiet (but otherwise decent-sounding) narrator. I can't quite suss out who's voicing what role (why are there two parts listed for some of them?), but Rarity sounds exactly like the waiters, which was confusing. Rainbow Dash is at least good. She was able to pull together a decently ambitious production, but given the overall quality and the fact that I had to read the story myself, I think I'm going to give her a pass.
Genre: Shipping
Rainbow Dash relates the story of how she met Time Turner.
So after reading two of these Time Turner/Rainbow Dash fics, I've been dying to know how they got together. The answer couldn't have been more disappointing. First, as this is the first of them I've actually read myself, I was able to notice how poor the writing is. The dialogue is lax, there are lots of typos, and most confoundingly, the bulk of the story, a flashback, is unnecessarily written in italics. Second, while I really appreciate the addition of Soarity to this, the story focuses on them far too much. I wanted to know about Rainbow Dash, darnit, but instead I got lengthy scenes about who's eating what during their dinner dates. Lastly, the answer to the question is "they got drunk and sang karaoke together". I mean, that could be the start of a beautiful relationship, but as it stands in this piece, it felt more like a shrug. I think I can safely say these stories have worn out their welcome, and I wouldn't recommend them to anyone who isn't really into unusual pairings.
Not Recommended
It's a Wonderful Night for a Moondance by ambion
Reading by Scarlett Blade
Mature: Sex
Genre: Erotica
Moondancer and Twilight were just supposed to be visiting. How did they end up like this?
This is an interesting piece, and I'm not sure I know how to respond to it properly. For starters, I'd say it was a good example of how to write a sex scene but what do I know about sex, really. It's intimate, really letting you feel what the characters are experiencing instead of a bunch of "oh, baby, give me more". Perhaps more interestingly, it plays with the idea of consent and mind control. Twilight asks if Moondancer used magic on her; no real answer is ever forthcoming, but she doesn't exactly act like someone who's been mind-controlled into a sex slave. In fact, if this does anything right, it's probably that lack of answers. All but the most visceral acts of the scene are left to the reader's imagination. It's a really fascinating read, and I don't think I've quite seen the like. Won't appeal if you're not interested in sex-heavy writing, though.
Recommended
P3 Project Episode 1: The Emergency by Bookish Delight
Reading by Martialartfruituser
His quality isn't super-good, but more to the point, he talks too fast and slurs his words together. If he ever slows down, I'd give him another try, but when I have to go read the story myself, what's the use?
Genre: Slice of Life
There's a new pony in Ponyville, and that means only one thing.
"P3" stands for "Pony Permutation Project" which makes this the Pony Permutation Project Project, though permutations on what, I'm not sure. As it is, this is a nice early show scene, with AJ and Pinkie discussing what should be done about the new purple unicorn in town. It's got that light S1 feel (the publication date is one day before the series' first anniversary!), so there are a couple things that don't make sense in hindsight. But for all that not much goes on in this, it captures the characters believably.
Recommended as Light Reading
Best Friends by BronyWriter
Reading by Scarlett Blade
Genre: Dark Comedy
Rarity needs help hiding a body. Who better to turn to than her friends?
This gets off to a really great start with some solid dark comedy, but by the one-third mark, it devolves into a morass of plodding details, very light on the humor. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of great laughs to be had in this story, but there's also a lot of story in between each. For the most part, the scenes amount to "how to dispose of a body, with ponies" and could have been left on the cutting-room floor without affecting anything adversely. This is still worth the read if you enjoy dark humor, though; just be aware it's a bit on the long side.
Recommended If You Don't Mind Slow Pacing
Six Ponies & One Corpse by Estee
Genre: Dark Comedy
What will they do with it?
I couldn't read the last story and not read this one, too. This is, I think, the only other fic (recent, at least) written on the same premise. (I was kinda hoping for enough to do an edition, but I don't have any reason to believe more were made.) It makes for an interesting contrast. Okay, well, it just does the concept better across the board than the previous story, but it's also a very different story. Rather than focus on how to dispose of a corpse, the jokes center around what form disposal should even take, and each of the mane six has their own ideas, each of them more ridiculous than the last. The narrative is chock full of droll humor, which makes the more straightforward dialogue provide for its own sort of comedy. This is really great all around, and it's got the perfect punchline.
Recommended
Maiden Flight by Cold in Gardez
Reading by Scribbler, et. al.
Genre: Scootalove
Rainbow Dash finally teaches Scootaloo to fly. The hard way.
Well, here's a blast from the past: the first ponyfic from Cold in Gardez! Six years ago is rather recent to be nostalgic about, yet nostalgic is how I felt reading this. I even remembered some bits of it from the first time I read it! (But mostly I was just happy because Books and Branches. :D) It's a solid S1 episode-like light comedy, well-paced, with perfect comedic timing owing to excellent use of Rainbow and Twilight as a comedic duo, and it's just uplifting as heck. While a little rough in comparison to CiG's later work, it's still leagues above most first fics; my only real complaint on the writing would be the excessive LUS, but that was also more of a problem before S2. (And I just love how Fluttershy's there for no particular reason.) In all, eminently worth the read, whether you were around when this was written or not.
Recommended
The Next Step by dietcokewithlime
Reading by Scarlett Blade
Genre: Random Comedy
Celestia and Luna arrive at Twilight's castle to help her take the next step in her alicorn training.
It's no real spoiler to note that said step is getting her mane to go all wavy like theirs. How this is accomplished, and what it has to do with the story's description, is the real joke. :) The humor in this is 100% juvenile, trending toward sexual by the end. Needless to say, I was laughing a lot. This is one of those fics where I get to a certain spot and have to pause the reading because I'm just laughing and repeating the same three words over and over. (You'll know what they are when you get there.) Suffice to say, if you're young at heart, this will be worth it for the main joke. :V
Recommended If You Think the Word "Butt" Is Funny
>butt
hehehe
I genuinely wonder how much and how loudly I would have to fangirl over Starlight to neutralize the Niagara Falls of salt she's thus far generated. Seriously, you guys, it's everywhere.
Anyway, the PPPPPPPProject is based on the fact that I aimed to do light fluffy stories on every possible twosome of the M6. Think the Friends Forever comic, only six years early... and without the visuals or sense of scale or sometimes even coherent sentences. It's also missing about five pairings because holy crap you try to maintain S1's halcyon tone when Season 4 is in full swing. :D
The word "butt" is never NOT funny.
I disagree. From my experience with the story, the purpose of the slow pacing and general plodding along is to demonstrate how much all of the Mane 6 really don't want to be involved with this. All of them are trying to drag things out as long as possible, repeatedly discussing all the things they ought to be doing while taking their sweet time actually doing them. Changing this aspect of the story would really affect the tone and characterization the fic is going for.
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My people.
4431581
That comes across, but it's more beaten into the reader's head. Just the scenes with them hesitating on the cusp of doing the various deeds they need to would have sufficed. Once the other girls show up, it starts getting funnier (Dash is just really into it), but long grocery lists and assurances that such and such thing was purchased are not.