Read It Later Reviews #75 – I Do, Delayed Reaction, Princesses Can’t Cook, Pony Up A Tree, Permanent Record · 11:52pm May 30th, 2017
Howdy folks! It has been far too long since I did one of these. Sort of been avoiding a lot of blog posts because spoilers, like an idiot. I just need to catch up on stuff.
And generally being useless.
Sometimes, when I’m feeling like I’m being a useless lump, I just decide to do something.
So, when I was feeling like a useless lump on Memorial Day, having not gotten my Celestia story done for it, I sort of farted around… and then decided around 10 pm that, seeing as I hadn’t gotten a review set done in ages, and had hardly read anything in weeks, that I should.
So I did.
I ended up getting this set done, as well as the next one. So expect at least two review sets this week, if nothing else.
But I’d like to get a story done as well. To Be Forgotten is a thousand words off of completion, and I’ve got a story I need to edit for that thing Cleverpun is putting together, a PM burning in my inbox about that…
In the meantime, today’s stories!
I Do by Kits
Delayed Reaction by Masterweaver
Princesses Can’t Cook by Estee
Pony Up A Tree by Estee
Permanent Record by Estee
I Do
by Kits
Comedy, Romance
10,246 wordsWhen Applejack and Rainbow Dash wake up, hungover and in the same bed, they've only one question: how can we get even? A day spent tormenting their friends by turning one of their hopes on its ear pays off, but not quite in the way anypony expected.
Why I added it: I read it a long time ago.
Review
After a drinking contest, Applejack and Rainbow Dash wake up to find themselves in bed together. The two initially wonder if they did something salacious the previous evening, but quickly determine they didn’t – and that Pinkie Pie and Rarity had conspired to set them up to believe otherwise.
This, naturally, calls for revenge. And how better than to pretend like they’d actually gotten together for realsies?
This story is a fairly simple piece, so it surprised me that it clocked in north of 10,000 words. We see Rainbow Dash and Applejack wake up together, spend some time investigating (the evidence of Rarity’s presence is rather strange – I’m not sure how she would have left what she did there), and then go off and pretend to be a couple and subsequently torture Pinkie Pie and Rarity as they try to throw together stuff for their impromptu wedding.
This is a fairly simple comedy/shipfic. We see some hints of Rainbow Dash liking Applejack, more hints of them genuinely liking each other in the scene where they try to trick Rarity and Pinkie Pie, and the story finally concludes with them together. However, while it does go through these motions, someone who is looking for a love story here is going to be disappointed – this isn’t really one, and I suspect that people who don’t already buy into Applejack and Rainbow Dash as a couple are probably not going to be sold on the ship here. Those who do buy into it, however, are likely to be okay with the way it all falls out.
On the humor side, this is a story about ponies playing a prank on other ponies and doing something which is carefully calculated to run them ragged and mess with them. In that, it is reasonably effective, though Rarity and Pinkie Pie’s initial response to the two of them (being very accepting, and not at all worried about their prank meddling in things which weren’t supposed to be meddled in) seems a little strange until much later on in the story. There’s a few brick jokes here – including one that is pretty well hidden, as it is something that seems like a plot contrivance, but actually has some payoff at the end that at least explains why things were that way.
All in all, this is a decent example of what it is. It never really knocks it out of the park, but it is decent throughout, with solidly in-character dialogue and ponies, save for a couple of little things that twinge (though which make a bit more sense when you reach the end). The situation is amusing, and the prank is well-targeted.
Recommendation: Worth Reading if AppleDash is your thing.
Delayed Reaction
by Masterweaver
Comedy, Slice of Life, Random
1,211 wordsWhen one's genetic template is overwritten, there tend to be... side effects. Most of the side effects come into play immediately.
Sometimes, though, one has to live with a new biochemistry for a while before it triggers.
It's actually very well documented.
Why I added it: It was featured.
Review
Twilight freaks out over being immortal, going through a full cycle of emotions about it. Possibly several times.
There’s a good explanation, really.
(No there isn’t)
This story, more or less, makes fun of immortality tropes. Twilight freaks out and in a rapid-fire freakout, goes through the full list, as well as a few other random things, including hitting on Starlight, the lone witness to it. It doesn’t have any real greater purpose, or plot, or anything beyond that, and the explanation is pretty weak.
I think I’m on the record for saying I’m not generally fond of random stories, and this ultimately proved to be no exception. While the story itself lacks the random tag, it very much felt like such a story; the whole thing comes out of nowhere and it lasts the duration of the (very short) piece. And while I do enjoy poking fun at immortality angst, this story really more or less did so just by blurting stuff out and then moving on immediately, rather than doing anything particularly clever with them.
All in all, I was left kind of cold by this. I know there’s an audience for this kind of thing, but it isn’t me.
Recommendation: Not Recommended.
Princesses Can’t Cook
by Estee
Comedy, Slice of Life
11,680 wordsFollowing the events of the second Return Day, Celestia and Luna made a pair of agreements. The second is that it's finally time to correct for a thousand years and more of almost totally nonexistent cooking skills. However, that's going to require teachers. And two very lucky ponies, the recently cross-promoted Solar head chef Anise Verum and her junior sous, Blending Stock, get to be the ones who instruct them.
There are lessons to be learned in that kitchen.
The first concerns how to survive explosions.
Why I added it: Estee is a good writer.
Review
While this is marked as a sequel to A Total Eclipse of the Fun, it isn’t really necessary to read that story to understand this one. That being said, this story is very much a part of Estee’s Tryptych Continuum, so while the stories are ostensibly stand-alone, they do sort of go together as well.
This story is about Luna and Celestia trying to learn how to cook. It seems that, in over a thousand years of life, neither of them ever bothered to do so. They had other things to do, and simply grabbing food on the go or having it provided to them is pretty much how they’ve existed since they started ruling Equestria together all that time ago.
This being a comedy, as one might imagine, things don’t go well.
The story is told from the point of view of Anise, the head chief of the Solar Kitchens. She starts the story deeply worried about teaching the Princesses how to cook – after all, she is the master of her kitchen, but tonight, she’s just Anise, not Chef.
While you might expect this story to be all about the Princesses trying (and failing) to cook, the story’s focus is actually more on the Princesses themselves. While they do try (and fail) to cook, and that is the “story” behind it, really it is more of a vehicle for showing more about the personality of Luna and Celestia, both via their interactions with each other, their interactions with Anise and her fellow chef (Stock, who has a much lesser role in the story), silly bickering between the Two Oldest And Wisest Ponies In Equestria, and questions about food and memories that it ultimately brings back.
Really, this is a story primarily focused on humanizing the princesses, having them talk about their childhood memories of cooking, as well as just their general behavior towards each other, towards cooking, and towards trying to get things to work.
And at that, it works well. The story is certainly amusing in places, but while it is comedic, this is ultimately more of a slice of life piece than anything else, structurally and otherwise. It makes use of the limited setpiece of cooking and the kitchen to highlight and expose character and backstory, and overall, it works well at that.
Estee’s stories sometimes have the flaw of feeling unfocused because of the various digressions. But as I’ve noted, this style of writing works very well in some stories. In this one, the digressions are the point of the story – there are many stories about Princess Celestia or Princess Luna screwing up at some seemingly mundane task for cheap laughs, but because instead the story is about the Princesses as people, it cleverly uses the standard story plot as a means of instead characterizing them.
While Estee has their own ideas about who Luna and Celestia are as people, this is an interesting take on them, and if you’re interested in a story which uses a somewhat silly vehicle to deliver said characterization, this is likely to be up your alley.
Recommendation: Worth Reading.
Pony Up A Tree
by Estee
Comedy, Slice of Life
8,567 wordsRarity likes to believe that her intellect, social grace, and etiquette can get her out of virtually any situation. Trees, however, are notoriously difficult to reason with -- as is the pony who stuck her in one.
So to get her out of this, she has logic, reason, magic, careful consideration of all available options, and her true best efforts going into solving the problem.
...it's going to be a long night.
Why I added it: Estee is a good writer.
Review
After a game of poker, Rarity and Rainbow Dash are walking home at night. Rainbow Dash is complaining about how she always loses first, and tonight, she managed to lose all of her chips very fast. So Rarity, being the soul of generosity that she is, shares one helpful fact with Rainbow Dash:
Rainbow Dash has a terrible poker face.
So Rarity finds herself dumped up in a tree all night, left there to wait for Rainbow Dash to come fish her back out – or for some helpful other pony to come along an isolated road on the edge of Ponyville.
Unfortunately, format and pacing betrayed it. Being stuck up in a tree is really kind of visual humor, and unfortunately it is really the sort of thing which is funnier to watch than to read about. On top of that, it is not very fast-paced – the story is over 8,000 words long, and unfortunately, I just didn’t feel like the funny bits that were there really ended up covering its full length. It was, in the end, a rather predictable story and didn’t really do much for me.
Recommendation: Not Recommended.
Permanent Record
by Estee
Comedy, Dark, Random
4,163 wordsEver wonder what the CMC's collective juvee incident file would look like?
How about what it would do to the pony who had to record it?
Why I added it: Estee is a good writer.
Review
This starts out as a series of incident reports about the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ various shenanigans, which gradually begins drifting into the realm of insanity after the Discord Incident. This starts out kind of funny, gets funnier as the officer descends into insanity, actually gets less funny when they go full bore conspiracy theorist (seen it too many times, sadly, and this didn’t really feel very different), gets a bit funnier towards the end, and then concludes on a hilarious note.
On the whole, this is one of those pieces that doesn’t have a whole lot of weight to it; this is pretty much a pure comedy, but it is amusing. And in the end, that’s really all there is to say about it. If the idea of reading about a police officer gradually descending into insanity after dealing with the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ shenanigans appeals to you, this will likely amuse you. If that doesn’t sound like your sort of thing, you probably won’t like it.
Recommendation: Worth Reading.
Summary
I Do by Kits
Worth Reading
Delayed Reaction by Masterweaver
Not Recommended
Princesses Can’t Cook by Estee
Worth Reading
Pony Up A Tree by Estee
Not Recommended
Permanent Record by Estee
Worth Reading
And there we go! Another review set.
I feel like I’ve lost so much time. Time to go search the couch cushions for some sand.
Number of stories still listed as Read It Sooner: 195
Number of stories still listed as Read It Later: 611
Number of stories listed as Read It Eventually: 2118
"Title" is a clever title for a story.
4553310
Hah, thanks for the catch!
Two Estee stories getting a 'Worth Reading' recommendation? What madness is this? (I quite like Estee's work)
4553328
Well north of half of Estee's stuff gets a WR or higher from me. It's just that Estee writes a lot of stories. Esee I believe holds the record for most stories with a WR and most stories with a NR categorization simply because I've reviewed so many of their stories.
One thing out of Delayed Reaction I'm totally stealing is LUMPS, Longevity Unilateral Mental Projection Syndrome.
4553497
Don't they have a shot for that?
I do was a cute story. Although I enjoyed the other pairing more, despite how cute Appledash is.