Best of Season 1 Short Fics, Part 4 · 4:24pm Jul 2nd, 2017
Before we get to the main attraction, I suppose I should have something to say about the official trailer for the new My Little Pony: The Movie (come on Hasbro, did you have to re-use the same title as the first one), but to be honest, I’ve barely been paying attention as is to any movie news at all.
Frankly, the whole movie feels like it’s coming way past the height of ponymania. The fandom, after all, is not as big as it was years ago (just check how many fewer stories we get on Fimfiction, or how My Little Pony looks on google trends), and TV ratings are lower than in past seasons, which makes me think it doesn’t do as well with children either. The show was already four years old by the time they made the announcement, when really they should have decided on it once they made the decision to renew the show after season 3 in 2012. So instead of waiting for a movie, it should have already been released. Instead, Hasbro thought it had to get out something to compete with Mattel’s Monster High, and just stuck the My Little Pony label on some dolls, creating Equestria Girls. If I sound cynical, I guess I just doubt the movie will do well, let alone be a hit.
But it should because sea ponies are officially canon!!!!!!
Anyway, onward to season 1 and story recommendations (at least I hope so, otherwise I'm not doing my job).
20: The Door by Ebon Mane - Twilight enjoys sleepovers and scary stories, but what if she gets pulled into one?
Published: March 31st, 2011
Most Recent Episode: Over a Barrel, 21
Length: 2852
Characters: Twilight Sparkle, Main Cast
Genre: Horror
It’s not easy writing a scare piece of work. Unlike in film, where jump scares, string instruments, and the like can be deployed to develop screams and increase heart rates, the number of tools available to prose users are far fewer. Instead, literature needs to rely on build up and the unknown to a greater extent (after all, what is more terrifying than that what we can’t imagine, let alone understand). And Ebon Mane’s The Door is a good example of that.
An entry of the April Foal’s entry (sadly not a bracket winner, but then again, most people were probably after more comedic affair), The Door creates tension by relying on fear of the unknown and taking it’s time (such as setting a cute slumber party at the start) before unleashing the punch line. There are a few spelling and grammar errors, and Ebon Mane, unfortunately, has a weird tendency to use “Earth pony.” But besides that I heartily recommend this to anyone looking for some chills.
19. Junior Pranksters Forever by Pacce - Dash and Gilda pull a prank on Show Stopper at Junior Speedsters Camp, but it goes too far. The pegasus is no longer breathing.
Published: March 31st, 2011
Most Recent Episode: Over a Barrel, 21
Length: 5328
Characters: Rainbow Dash, Gilda
Genre: Horror, Comedy
Like The Door, Junior Pranksters Forever is both an entry in the April Foal’s contest and a scary story. Unlike The Door, the horror is developed not from fear of the unknown, but instead from elements close to reality. A prank gone all wrong is always a possibility, and the fact that someone could end up dead is the worst possible outcome.
Characterization is the strong point. Pacce successfully creates the mindset and actions of a child, through Dash, that results when they fear they have done something super wrong that neither fix nor tell the adults. What also makes it more believable is the dialogue that he gives both her and Gilda, which capturing the middle-schooler tendency to speak in comebacks and positive insults. I just wish the writing for that dialogue (specifically, the tendency to use non-speaking verbs for said dialogue) was better. And Pacce does make other mistakes such as missing commas and his paragraphs often start the same as well (he’s hardly the one only guilt of this now that I think about).
Whatever humor there is Junior Pranksters Forever is mostly dark comedy. Take this exchange for example.
Cupping [Gilda’s] claws in front of her beak she shouted towards the field, “Hey, has anypony seen that snot Show Stopper?”
Dash stared at the griffon in horror, “Are you crazy!?” Gilda shushed her with a talon on her lips.
One of the male campers flew by and called down, “No, I don’t think anypony’s seen her all day. She’s probably ditched again to primp in the mirror or whatever it is she does.” The colt looked at Dash dubiously, “What’s with her?”
Gilda shouted up, “She’s just on edge because we iced Show Stopper last night and we’re gonna have to bury her in a shallow grave later.”
The boy laughed as he flew off, “And a happy All Foal's Days to you too.”
Funny, but as you can tell rather black. I am aware that not everyone likes comedy that such as that or is a bit mean-spirited, and with you’re among those people, you might struggle with JPF. I say that because again, jokes are not its main point, and there is still plenty of good things to find elsewhere. But it’s worth mentioning.
18. Magical Happy Sunshine Princess Ponies and the Enchanted Garden of Whimsical Rainbow Frolics by Kiyyik - The town of Ponyville is acting really strange, like a bunch of glass-eyed five year olds. What is Twilight to do?
Published: March 31st, 2011
Most Recent Episode: Over a Barrel, 21
Length: 2550
Characters: Twilight Sparkle, Main Cast,
Genre: Random
Another entry in the April Foal’s contest, like Junior Pranksters Forever, this is also a story meant to provide both laughs and scares. But MHSPPEGWRF is not a piece of dark humor like the previous story. Instead the humor comes from the fact the situation (the cast acting like G3 ponies) would funny under different circumstances. Instead, presented as it is, it’s meant to be creepy. But what really sells the story is the ending, where one of the greatest character twists is pulled off seamlessly and naturally. What more do I have to say.
17. Big Dragon by Lucres - Spike wants to desperately fly, so after putting with his constant begging, Twilight agrees to cast a spell on him from a book she’s not aware of the origins of. It doesn’t give him the power to fly; it just makes him enormous, and that leads to problems. Big ones.
Published: March 31st, 2011
Most Recent Episode: Over a Barrel, 21
Length: 4372
Characters: Spike, Twilight, Main Cast
Genre: Comedy
This is… you guessed it, another entry of the April Foal’s (look it had a quite a few good admissions). Unlike the previous ones, there’s no attempt at scaring the reader. This is instead a fast-paced comedy that goes from character based humor (“I’ll clean the library every day!” pleaded Spike. “You’re supposed to do that anyway.” Twilight retorted. “Yeah, but I won’t complain about it!”) to silliness (the one who initiates the plan to turn Spike begin, whose identity is easy to guess, bribes Pinkie with a briefcase of specially made cupcakes). Not every single gag is a hit though (one joke made me laugh at first, but it kind of makes cringe when I think about it), to be fair, I think a few more could be used, but the ones that are there will likely induce chuckles at the least. There’s enough to excuse say the lack of depth to the tale.
In broad strokes, this shares quite a bit with the season 2 episode, The Secret of My Excess, only better because it doesn’t need to press a moral on it (there is a brief bit where Twilight thinks things she’ll put in her letter, but it’s so short, it hardly feels like a big deal). And this is for the most part, minus a few jokes, a rather episode like story.
Characterization is pretty good. Spike increasingly acting like a jerk as he grows in size, and everyone else remains in character.
There’s really not much besides that. People who want to laugh, particularly about character based humor should check this out.
16. My Little Parcel by CupcakesNom - Dash discovers that she’s missing something she bought for herself when she was with her friends at Trottingham, and assumes that one of them has it. And she’ll do whatever it takes to get it so that they don’t find out what’s in it.
Published: March 26th, 2011
Most Recent Episode: Over a Barrel, 21
Length: 5436
Characters: Rainbow Dash, Main Cast
Genre: Normal
Okay, time for a non-April Foal’s Entry. My Little Parcel is a somewhat episode like story involving. I say somewhat because even though it shares the mix of character, plot, and humor, the main problem: Dash searches for a package containing something she bought for herself for a trip, is a lot softer than your average FiM episode from season 1. That’s not a bad thing per say because My Little Parcel does manage to be cute and sweet at appropriate times. Plus, there are references to seaponies here, and I love seaponies.
The characterization is great. Cupcake captures Dash’s panic at what is seemingly a silly thing so that it generates both drama and concern for her, while also delivering laughs at the same time. Everyone else is well done as well for their brief moment, including the ending.
Being episodelike does mean that CupcakesNom’s story is rather predictable (it’s pretty obvious why Dash is so nervous about someone else finding her package and what’s going to happen), but that comes with the package (heh). In fact the more serious criticisms I can level at My Little Parcel follow under the I wish category: I wish is was funnier, it was deeper, that there was a little more tension, that we learned a little more about the trip (which by the way was given enough info that a plausible story could be constructed from it, even though it was quite clear that the author was only doing this to drop piratey dialogue and make references to “The Princess Bride”), that the message was a bit more universal. Small things like that. That’s not say this is for everyone: people interested in something with a bit more meat than a light read probably should look elsewhere. But those looking for a nice episode like story, again, should check this out.
· While it technically started on the 31st of March, the April Foals’ Day Fic-off marks the start of this moment [Bugs of the Present: Look it is a complete coincidence that a lot of stories from this fic-off occurred the day a bunch of entries from it were add to the rec list.]. 46 stories in total were submitted, and which where split into nine brackets and voted on before coming to a big one (which really came down to two stories). [I have to say at this moment that reading the phrase “April Foals’ Day” or “April Fools’ Day” in a story is weird. The problem isn’t the idea of the holiday, but the name. April is to me a human invention that really shouldn’t jump to other verses; at the very least, it should be like Nightmare Night and Hearth’s Warming Eve, ponified versions of what they are (not that I think those are great)]. As for the stories themselves, well I do think this was the best fic-off so far. Unlike the 300 word-off, people weren’t restricted by the confines of a tough word limit, and unlike the valentines fic-off, there wasn’t a drive towards shipping (which, yes, can be good, but often isn’t to people who don’t like that genre). Instead, writers seemed to go mostly out of their way to be funny with exceptions. Having said that, patterns do develop. There’s a quite a few of stories involving Twilight (and occasionally Fluttershy) pulling her first prank, or about others getting back at Pinkie (and sometimes Dash as well) for some practical jokes. Of course, not every one was good at telling jokes (there are some who can’t tell a good one if their lives were at stake). A lot of them use April Fools as a literal idea as well.
o Here’s something strange. Twilight’s Last Gleaming by Blueshift was the overall winner of the April Foals Fic-off, and Leafing the Dream by TwinkleTail came in a very close second. And yet, when they were given their own post, they only managed a 4-star rating. I can’t think how that could have happened (outside of star bombing),
· You know, I’m tempted to count how times words like “sun” appear in the first sentence. Also the same if it involves character waking up from their sleep. At the very least, it’s almost worth turning into a drinking game.
o Since doing so, I can say that yeah, many first sentences really aren’t that good. A lot are weather reports.
· I didn’t realize it at first, but March was when The Conversion Bureau first showed up. I’ve never read it myself for reasons ranging from the fact the main idea doesn’t appeal to me (Equestria shows up on Earth and people are converted into ponies if they desire; not for me), the rather low opinions I’ve heard (mainly that it’s wish fulfillment with an anti-human bent and poorly written in terms of prose), and its incomplete status (which is the real reason I haven’t read it for this list). But that doesn’t take away the fact that Blaze came up with a story that has launched so many spin-offs, parodies, riffs, restatements, and the like (some of which are said to be good by non-TCB fans) than probably any other pony fanfiction besides Fallout: Equestria (and perhaps Cupcakes, that one is hard to nail down in terms of influence). Whether or not TCB is good (not just as a story, but also for its effects on the fandom) doesn’t change the fact it’s important. And when one is writing about fanfiction from the early days of the fandom, one does need to acknowledge that.
· Speaking of Fallout: Equestria, that story had its first chapter published on EQD in April 2011 (although because it does contain references to things that didn’t show up till season 2 like Discord, I consider it a season 2 fic). While it does have its detractors and it definitely has flaws, Kkat’s tale about the unicorn Little Pip’s adventures through the wasted remains of Equestria and her learning of how it came to be is still one of the most influential (more spin-offs than any other) and popular pony fanficts, one of the few with mass appeal that is well-regarded by most of the more critical readers (including yours truly). Still, I wonder if that would be so if things were different. If Fallout: Equestria was not connected to a popular video game (that is if Fallout 3 wasn’t the massive success it was or if FO:E was not a crossover at all), if another MLP:FiM-Fallout crossover came first, if it had been published six months or a year later, or had not been allowed on EQD at all for being too violent for (something a few pre-readers have said in the past), would it even get half the attention and love it has now. Probably not methinks (and a lot of people forget that F:OE was a five star for quite a bit of time), which reminds me that popularity has more to do about being at the right place at the right time as opposed to quality. Still all this speculation doesn’t change what reality is, and that includes the fact I do like Fallout: Equestria a lot.
· With the mention of Fallout: Equestria, it’s worth talking how other long stories are doing. Besides Fallout: Equestria, there’s also the beginning of Moonbeam, Traveler (sequel to Number 12), Arddun Lleuad (which would be released completed), It’s a Dangerous Business to Go Outside Your Door, The Knights of Harmony. Earlier, A Royal History Lesson, Letters to and From a Princess, Mail Ponies, Paradise, Escape from Castle Midnight, Half the Day is Night Memories of Days Long Past, Antipodes, Everypony Loves Dash, Luna’s Goodwill Tour, and My Little Time Lord have already gotten started, while ButterScotchSundae’s novella, The Party Never Ended, and Hephetesus’s Timelords and Terror are to wrapping-up. The disadvantage is that because quite a few of them were not complete by season 1 (or haven’t been completed period) and being above my set word count means I’m not going understand all the going ons of Pony fanfiction. I also can’t really say if I would recommend any of these or not as such.
· Honestly, I’m not sure which premise draws more eye rolls from me: Sad Luna or Sad Trixie. Both of them involve taking an antagonist in the show and portray them as innocent victims (ignoring the fact they are blameworthy for what they did), by making them are lonely and needed someone. I guess I should be glad Sad Gilda never became a thing.
· Okay, I have to ask because I’ve seen it pop up a few times: did people really debate how Pinkie’s name was spelled? I’ve seen a few “Pinky”s here and there. “Sweetie Bell” instead of “Sweetie Belle” and “Apple Bloom” as one word as well, but at least I get those, sort of.
· I notice that there are a sizable number of fanfics that make reference to the Swayback Mountains. I assume that originated with ButterScotchSundae’s story. [Bugs of the Present: I guess not surprised looking closer. This is a story that got over 21,000 views on little more than a year in existence (which believe me, at this point in time is a lot, and higher than average for ButterScotchSundae). I suppose it’s worth a shot looking if you’re curious to know what one of the most popular and influential shipping stories is like, though I do think there is sex, but I can’t really provide any more details. My notes are sadly, literally as following:
Pro: For Shipping it’s not half bad
Con: That doesn’t mean I wasn’t bored out of my skull
Yeah.]
· I mentioned this back in January, but even now there are still a few cases where people capitalize pegasus (and unicorn and earth pony). It’s frustrating.
· It has to be said: there are quite a few shipping stories that piss me off. I don’t mean that they go against the character's personality for the sake of shipping (although that is pretty bad). I mean that they actually offend me and make me question if the writer has any idea what a consensual romance is. Here’s a list of things I’ve encountered: characters becoming willing test subjects to love potions and then mixing it into the food drink of others , characters blackmailing others into relationships after reading their diary, mind spells, friends switching minds and setting up a romance, vegas style weddings that suggest callousness on part of one party.
· When you see as many missing stories as I do, you started to get scared about the future of early MLP:FiM fanfiction. Archive’s Wayback Machine and the like are wonderful tools, but they can’t bring back old stories that were uploaded to Google Docs or Fanfiction.net, and those are two of the three big formats people used at that time. And the third, Devaintart, is not guaranteed to have them either. I download all the stories I thought were really good, but even they work better in the context of the lesser efforts.
· Wrapping the month off is another Friend-off occurs with more. Again, artists either drew a something inspired by a fanfic or a writer wrote something based off a drawing. Most of these are really short, but they’re also not quite stories as scenes. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. Yeah there are still stories that feel like the old plotless scene stories of Jan-Feb, but there a nice selection of decent work, and even some of the mostly short cute stuff with little conflict was better than the ones from earlier months. As for the fanfics that provided inspiration, well “Bubbles” and “Fallout: Equestria” got two, while “Today, Tomorrow, and Forever,” “Traveler,” “The Party Never Ended,” “The Quest for the Friendship Stones,” “Antipodes,” “A Special Letter,” “A Hop, Skip, and a Jump,” Sunny Skies All Day Long,” “Twilight’s Best Friend”, “Dress Up Dash,” “Cute Mark Crusaders Courage Test,” and “Chasing Rainbows,” all got something. Quite a few of these would become 6-stars.
· You know, to my surprise there really haven’t been that many stories involving what we call the background six (that is Derpy Hooves, Dr. Whooves, Lyra, Bon Bon, Vinyl Scratch, and Octavia, who hasn’t appeared yet, so Carrot Top can take her place, even though she appears almost as much as Octavia does ), or any other background characters really. This came to me while reading the Friend-off because I noticed there was a good percentage of Derpy stories here, but I hadn’t read anything with Vinyl, Lyra, Bon, or most of the fan named background cast since March (outside of cameos and minor bit pieces that probably could be counted on hand for each character). I’d be curious to see how this would compare with the Drawfriend, but writers really seem to gravitate towards characters with at least personality . [Bugs of the Present: If I have to be honest here, it’s worth mentioning that April had fewer stories than March or Feburary, but it is true that such background characters weren’t getting a lot of attention by writers at this point. When you get down to it, the most commonly used characters are the main cast, Spike, the Princesses, Derpy, and Trixie. Derpy and maybe Luna aside, all these characters have something of a personality.]
· Cutie Mark Chronicles comes out, and with the canon origin stories of the main characters (and Spike) are established. Although there are plenty of episodes that opened doors for fanfic, this episode probably closed the biggest door of them all. Now here’s where it gets weird, I remember quite a few stories that are about the main six’s past, and numerous others that contain references to their past, but when it comes to ones about them getting their cutie marks (to clarify written before Cutie Mark Chronicles), my mind is drawing a blank. Heck, the first that came to mind was a tale where Twilight was born with her cutie mark (also that she was born thousand years in the past and was in statsis till the present because otherwise Celestia couldn’t seal away Nightmare Moon; yeah, it was a weird story). Sure there are probably a few where the characters talk about how they got their cutie mark, and others might have gone missing (one clear cut example is A.J’s Pinkie Pie’s Cutie Mark), but it’s still a curious omission.
· Here’s another thing that could added to a fanfiction drinking game: take a shot every time Applejack makes a reference to her sexuality by mentioning which way her barn or stable door swings, but it has to be moonshine or hard cider.
· One thing that surprises me while going through stories is that things that you thought were ubiquitous, or at least relatively common, based on what veterans actually don’t have that many examples. Take Scootalove, stories of Scootaloo bonding with Rainbow Dash, often with the latter teaching the former to fly. The catalyst of this is supposed to come from Faust saying that Dash would not make a good sister, and people trying to suggest otherwise. Now there were story responses, but as far as March is concerned, there are only two stories that fall under that category, and while that’s about a third of all Scootaloo staring stories (it’s smaller if you include Crusdaer focused ones in general), it doesn’t seem like a lot. If anything, Tanner’s Flying Right, an April release filled with Scootabuse, and memes of similar nature probably gave rise to more Scootalove stories than anything Faust said.
· Once again, Twilight takes top spot as the most used main character. After her, the main cast in general takes second, with Pinkie and Rainbow tied for third (well there’s something different). Luna and OC’s come next, followed by a tie between Applejack and Fluttershy, with Celestia and Spike coming next. Trixie comes next, with Derpy tied with Rarity. The CMC come next followed by our good friend the Doctor, and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. What’s changed is that Big Mac, Apple Bloom, and Gilda, who used to be able to claim a fair number of stories as their own, have now seen their numbers drop considerably.
· If you want to know how shipping looks, here’s something someone put together for all the EQD stories up to Mid-April. Just to tell you this is a very rough count and I’m convinced that whoever put this together didn’t actually read all the stories. Believe me, I would remember if there was any princess-incest. Look at it as a curiosity, and not 100% accurate listing.
· New authors include Raz_Fox, Hiddenbrony, I0X0r, Larathin Bradley, Sagebrush, and Sithicus. Not a lot to be honest. What has changed is that many authors who used to be more prolific in the past have slowed down now. Blueshift, PrinceShadri, A. J. IrinxooACj have written the most stories this month, while both Raging Semi and Pacce have slowed to a crawl.
· April is like March. It’s a pretty decent month for pony fiction.
15. Twilight’s Last Gleaming by Blueshift – It’s April Foals Day, and for the first half of the day, ponies of Ponyville pull pranks on each other in a competition, but every year Pinkie Pie always wins. But Twilight, after being dismissed as a bookish dullard who has never even heard of the holiday, decides to prove everyone wrong by beating Pinkie.
Published: March 30th, 2011
Most Recent Episode: Over a Barrel, 21
Length: 5198
Characters: Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Pinkie Pie
Genre: Comedy
The winner of the April Foals Competition, and from my point of view, rightfully so. In a sea of rather good funny stories, that’s saying something. What makes Blueshift’s stick out is that he understand that when you’re writing a comedy, you need to provide laughs as often as you can, unless you’re building up to laughs. While the plot is hardly the most unique (as I said above, a lot of them involve ponies pulling pranks on each other, and ones with April Foals compeitons aren’t exactly rare), Blueshift unloads gag after gag from character based humor (the whole joke about Dash’s prank is not that it’s particularly funny, but instead that she thinks it’s amazing) to more random affair.
This being Blueshift, especially during his early stage, quite a bit of it can be classified as cruel comedy, which is not the same as black comedy. The things that Twilight does will likely emit laughs, they also a make us feel bad for her victims and can possibly make one uncomfortable. Now these work, in my opinion, for two reasons. The first being is that the cruelty is kind of the point for reasons that I’ll get into, and two, because of Spike. Often at the end of each jape, Spike adds an extra comment that not only often provides a laugh (like Bernard from Yes, Minister), but also to soften the meanness of Twilight’s. He serves as the moral center of the story. The only jokes I thought were clear cut misses were the one or two G3 references that pop up. First being you have to understand what’s being alluded to, and the fact that Blueshift doesn’t do anything extra with them.
I talked about Spike above, and I can say that everyone else is good, being in-character for when they pop up, including the tricks they try to pull. The real winner is Twilight Sparkle. The whole competition and what it means to her from showing she can go out her comfort zone to her need to be on guard while around Pinkie, causes Twilight to slowly descend into madness. What she does becomes crazier and meaner as the story goes on until the big finish, not realizing she’s crossed the line, which makes sense given that she’s never pulled off pranks before.
I recommend Twilight’s Last Gleaming to anyone who wants a laugh, but add caution to those who don’t like it when the comedy becomes mean-spirited. It does have a point to the story
14. The Ghost of Carousel Boutique by ItsTheWhinyGuys – Sweetie Belle is spending the night at her sister’s place, but a series of strange sounds have her wondering if there might be a ghost in the Carousel Boutique. One that needs to be captured.
Published: March 28th, 2011
Most Recent Episode: Over a Barrel, 21
Length: 4123
Characters: Sweetie Belle, Rarity
Genre: Horror, Comedy
If the name (and the summary) doesn’t make it clear, The Ghost of Carousel Boutique is a meant to be a scary story with a mix of comedy added in. Given that I’ve already mentioned two of such tales already on this list (three if you want to count The Door as a comedy), it’s worth it mention where they both differ (besides the fact that this one was not entered for April Foals Day), and where they share similarities.
Like The Door, TGCB derives it’s terror from uncertainty and the supernatural (in this case, the possibility that a ghost might be in the Carousel Boutique) that slowly crescendos into full out scare (unlike in Junior Pranksters Forever where the anxiety is mostly level until punctuated with big moments or in MHSPPEGWRF, where it does increase as it goes on, but it’s too short for it to make much difference). There are more atmospherics in The Door than in TGCB, which limits itself mostly to thumps, but in exchange for that, there’s more focus on how Sweetie Belle feels and thinks (Twilight by comparison, can come across as a blank slate). The little unicorn also puts on a difference performance as well compared to Dash (in Junior Pranksters Forever) or Twilight (in the other two). She’s acts a lot like a kid who doesn’t realize how in over her head she is, charging into the situation headstrong while still being afraid. That makes her a more a much active character than the other three (I stress that there’s nothing wrong with having a passive character, especially with a horror story like these, just that it’s interesting).
The biggest point of difference is in the humor; rather than being black like Junior Pranksters Forever or goofy like MHSPPEGWRF, ItsTheWhinyGuys aims for more character based comedy (like Sweetie Belle deciding to get her cutie mark in ghost bustin’) to exist alongside the more frightening bits. At worst, it does lead to a bit of tonal whiplash, but overall, I was impressed by how the author was able to balance both aspects. If there was a problem (besides the ending for two reasons I can’t go into), it’s more pacing than anything else. While I wouldn’t say it’s wrong because there is still good things happening beforehand, it does take a bit before Sweetie Belle is forced into action.
Those looking for a good ghost story should check out The Ghost of [god, do I want to put a “the” here] Carousel Boutique. You won’t be disappointed.
13. Junior Speedsters Forever! by Pacce - Gilda goes to Junior Speedsters Flight camp, but being the only griffon there, she is very much an outcast. Except for one pegasus, a talented youth named Rainbow Dash. This story chronicles how they became friends, their time at camp, and how they grew into the people they are in the show.
Published: January 11th, 2011
Most Recent Episode: Call of the Cutie, 12
Length: 12579
Characters: Gilda, Rainbow Dash
Genre: Normal
If you remember my notes for January 2011, you probably figured out that this story was going to make an appearance on the list. And for good reason, Junior Speedsters Forever is one of the best short stories to come out of the fandom’s early days.
Essentially the Gilda fic, Pacce draws a very clear line in her arc from an outcast to the jerk of canon. The piece doesn’t dwell too much on whether or not it was right or wrong for how Gilda developed that way given her circumstance (other than suggesting it was mean at times if Firefly is to be taken at her word), because it realizes these are kids we’re talking about in a low supervision environment. In fact, like with Junior Pranksters Forever, Pacce shows a knack at writing children in general from their pranks and bullying and taunting (with that “yeah, so’s your mom” like feel) to their overall inexperience (it puts to mind my years at band camp, even if I was much older than what Dash and Gilda are meant). That doesn’t mean that Gilda is completely blameless with her choices or that we’re supposed to accept everything she does neturally (what she does to Happy, for example, is rather cruel), but while Gilda may not be the most likable of character you’ll read about, at the very least, you’ll understand her by the time the story is over.
Besides Gilda, other characters are vividly realized (like Surprise and Happy), while Dash and Firefly are well defined. One being a mentor who wants to be the reason behind Dash’s success while also struggling to deal with Gilda, while Dash is basically what Gilda aspires to be, with her own problems that Gilda chooses to ignore. Their actions and interactions (or lack their of) at camp are what drive their story.
Pacce’s writing could use work in areas. Like with Junior Pranksters Forever, there’s a tendency to have commas missing were needed, wrongly used or non-existent speaking verbs. In other parts, words are missing and sentences feel like they should be rewritten. Transitions between scenes are also a little awkward, probably a consequence of the fact this story was updated in parts. The overall effect makes me wish (and if Pacce ever does upload this to Fimfiction, which he should) that an editor got involved.
The ending was a touching. I appreciated the open-endedness of it with suggesting there was new, more positive direction for Gilda, but it also admitted the failure on the parts of various characters. It wraps up the themes and important plot threads up nicely.
Overall, I recommend this story to everyone. It’s just that good.
12. The Three Notes by Ebon Mane - Years have passed, things changed, and they don’t always go as planned or happily. At three different spots of time, the three notes snuck into three library books affect three different ponies
Published: March 4th, 2011
Most Recent Episode: The Show Stoppers, 18
Length: 3507
Characters: Apple Bloom, Mayor, Twilight Sparkle
Genre: Sad, Shipping
This actually a slight continuation of Ebon Mane’s Ships that Pass in the Night. While that’s a mostly good story, it also relies on melodramatic convention in order to work. That’s not something I can say about The Three Notes. (You don’t need to read The Ships that Pass in the Night in order to enjoy The Three Notes; the former is focused on how two introverts don’t know how to admit their feelings to one and another, and the failure of that causes them not to get together, The Three Notes is about something else which I’ll get to below, and the story also explains things, like how the notes got there and what not). The sadness that emerges from it is far more down-to-earth, coming from the fact that things don’t work out for us. When you read Scootaloo’s first line in the third paragraph, you know that things aren’t what they used.
Ebon Mane’s stories focuses between three different ponies in the future: Apple Bloom (not Applebloom as Ebon has it for some reason), the Mayor of Ponyville, and Twilight Sparkle. All three them reflect on their current situation, each wishing things were different; but also remaining distinct from each other in characterization. While I personally quarrel with the sentence in Ebon Mane’s summary with regards to the Mayor’s story and the overall point its trying to make, but at least I understand where Ebon is coming from, and I suspect others will agree with it. Plus, it also was the only one that hinted at a possible happy future.
This is one of the strongest atmospheric pieces I’ve read for this list. The writing is sober and quiet, with stylistic choices are made as well to great effect (such as referring to the mayor as the Mare). And then comes the final sentence of the story, which is beautiful. Check this out if you want to see a sad fic done well.
11. Chasing Rainbows by Phoe - Fluttershy confesses to Dash, but things don’t go as planned
Published: March 3rd, 2011
Most Recent Episode: Stare Master, 17
Length: 3245
Characters: Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash
Genre: Shipping
And for a more positive, a love story with a happy ending. Of course, Chasing Rainbows is a bit more than the standard shipping story. While it does rely on conventions that stand on the edge of the silly and the serious (Fluttershy says “I love you” when confronted by Dash from about her action and her kissing Dash on the cheek while she’s sleeping is… yeah), there are a few things that make it more than many of them.
One is the fact that Chasing Rainbows is mostly about, to me, is about getting over ones fear. Admitting her feelings for Fluttershy and the past in the case of Dash. Both events make up most of the drama, and, in especially in the case of the flashback, are really good at getting your emotions. And, that makes the ending that much more sweeter.
Two, the prose is excellent. Like with Space Oddpony, Phoe’s story is not only free of most errors, but she also knows how to use it to make the story seem more than it is. “Magenta eyes locked with teal[…]” is normally a phrase that would make me snort, because it’s the kind of thing you’d except a shipper to use to flower up their writing after checking a thesaurus, but Phoe’s restrained use of such makes them that more powerful.
Chasing Rainbows is the middle part of a trilogy that includes Fluttering Heart and Catching Rainbows. Both of them are worth your time if you enjoyed Chasing Rainbows. But those that don’t care for shipping should at least give Chasing Rainbows a shot. I won’t guarantee you’ll like it, but I didn’t think I would either until I read it.
Hey, I realize I haven't commented on the last few of these, but I've been reading along the whole way so far. It's been a lot of fun, seeing all these old fics (some of which I only vaguely remember) being brought back to light, and the month-by-month overviews are really helpful for placing what the zeitgeist of the time was. All these authors I remember! All these stories I read six years ago!
I remember both of the crusader spelling questions (along with a few others, like Big Macintosh/McIntosh), but I don't remember "Pinky" ever being anything but a misspelling. I mean, her name's in the credits from the very first episode; you should know the right way, dangit!
I think you accidentally a few words, there.
I don't know about stories about them getting their cutie marks, but there were plenty of stories where one or more of the main six's cutie mark stories were part of the plot. Heck, I was in the middle of a story wherein Pinkie getting her cutie mark was a major plot point when that episode aired. I remember initially panicking when we found out the episode was coming up, trying to figure out how to finish my fic before it aired... and, when I realized I wasn't going to make it, trying to figure out how I could re-write my already-published chapters to account for that and all the other ways my story was probably about to be un-canoned (it was!) before realizing the only way forward was to just forget about trying to keep up with the episodes.
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Thanks for pointing out the incomplete sentences.
So are the crusader's it seems.
Granted the whole Pinkie/Pinky thing wasn't super common, but it occurs enough to make you to wonder. Big Mac's was weird if I remember correctly because it was Macintosh for awhile before being finalized as McIntosh (may be because of Apple). There was enough ambiguity that it really doesn't bother me as I went (though the first few McIntoshs did trip me up).
Even that I'm struggling to come up with examples, just one springs to mind. Although I did think of an actual story about about a main cast member getting their mark before CMC was released, so that's something. But still you're more likely back then to come across a piece where Trixie, Derpy, Luna, the crusaders, or basically anyone beside the main cast gets their cutie mark. As I said above, maybe most of those stories ended up disappearing or I skipped them for being above my set word limit like yours.
You did touch upon a point I thought of making in my post about why there may have been so few such tales. Fans, by their nature, are enamored with continuity and sticking true to canon. They love to think that there's a clear line you can draw throughout a comic book, a TV show, a movie franchise, or what not that makes it seem planned and anything outside that is regarded with some amount of disdain.* What I'm guessing happened is that the announcement for Cutie Mark Chronicles was made, and most fan fic writers decided they didn't want to spend their time working on something that was going to be out of sync with canon a few weeks later.
I can relate to that. I remember when the announcement for Hearth's Warming Eve was made, and thinking that I had to get the epic, where Equestria's founding and past would be a significant part of the plot, I was working out in some shape or form before that the episode's release because then I could use the excuse that I had the whole thing planned out beforehand and trying to match up with the show would ruin it. Of course that ended up not being a problem because there was enough wiggle room in the show's story to work around, and because I eventually came to realize that I was writing an unsalvageable piece of shit, and that it would be better to throw away months work and start anew.
Concerning the shipping graph, I'm actually pretty surprised there (to extent it was correct) wasn't any Trixie/Rainbow shipping. Or for that matter Raridash. And if it were true... Princest as big as Twixie? Crazy.
It's not everything (see: DeviantArt, Fanfiction.net), and from time to time there have been errors there, but https://www.nallar.me/fics/ has most-or-all of the Google Docs fics that made Equestria Daily (it was supported through at least 2014 or 2015, so while there may have been some chapters of old longfics it missed, pretty much everything being newly published was by then done on Fimfiction). That includes deleted stories; for example, I just tested today with Tales of the Winter Magic Academy, which it has through chapter 40, matching the number on the last EQD update post.
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There are no stories back then that involved the princesses being romantic partners (unless they've been disintegrated from the web). I would have recalled something of the sorts; there was a Applejack/Big Mac story that involved the two going on a dinner date that did get a little creepy. Honestly, I should have added a stronger disclaimer stating that chart was at best a rough estimate. Some of the genre labeling was pretty bad at the time because a few works got classified as shipping really when they shouldn't have been.
That site you linked to looks nice, and definitely has a few things I wasn't able to read, but it is sadly missing quite a few stories like most of A.J.'s work and whatever RagingSemi didn't upload to PonyfictionArchive. And you like said, it can be missing a few chapters here and there. I guess take what you can get.
Besides that, Jiryan did collect quite a few early, longer stories for ereaders including Winter Magic Academy.
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Sorry, wasn't meant to imply I didn't believe you on no Celestia/Luna shipping ("to extent it was correct... if it were true..."). More that it listed Twixie as so few, when that seemed like a hugely popular ship. Granted, that impression was more based on ~July 2011 and after, but I guess I expected that that would have been the case earlier as well. "Boast Busters" being early S1, and all that.
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Bleh. I had a longer comment in the works, but my internet decided to quit on me. I'll just summarize to the best of my ability.
1) No need to apologizes. I simply misread what you wrote and overreacted.
2) Lack of Raridash is surprising, but there are a few "squint and you see it." Part of the issue is just most people don't like writing Rarity as a main character. Therefore, she doesn't get a lot of ships.
3) Concerning Twilight/Trixie having a low number of stories at this point in the fandom, eh I don't think it's really noticeable. Trixie is, at the end of the day, a minor character that because of the fact she provokes strong feelings in both directions by a good number of people, her seems like a bigger deal than otherwise (and when the person who runs the hub of pony fandom is an unapologetic fan of her... well you know what happens). The fact she's on that chart in the first place, unlike say Gilda, is notable enough. And she (at that point) is paired with Twilight (almost no one but Twilight) the same number of times Twilight is matched with Fluttershy (or Twilight with any one for that matter), but again we think nothing of the latter. Maybe things changed once the fandom of headed into the summer. The presence of popular stories like Of Mares and Magic and The Ballad of Twilight Sparkle probably made the ship more appealing to other writers, and more visible. Out in the Cold also had an impact as well.
I did not expect to see myself mentioned ever again, and yet here I am, both mentioned by name and by a work of mine.