Vault Stories: Part I - Allegrezza to A Common Sky · 8:44am Jul 31st, 2017

Most readers who were active in the fandom from late 2011 to late 2013 are probably at least passingly aware of RBDash47’s Pony Fiction Vault. The Vault was created in order to preserve stories, with 47 painstakingly spending time converting every entrant into a usable eBook format (back when Fimfiction’s downloader didn’t work and alternatives either didn’t exist or weren’t very well known). In addition--and perhaps most importantly--47 took the time to interview the authors who had their works featured, giving readers a means to better understand the authors and their stories.

For a time, the Vault was possibly the second biggest way to showcase a fic (next to an Equestria Daily feature) and generally was one possible indicator that you were reading a Really Good Story. And, even though the Vault closed on October 13, 2013, its legacy still has its effects on the present day, particularly with its spiritual successor the Royal Canterlot Library.

What I’m saying is, the Vault was a Big Thing back in the day. I want to see how these exceptional stories from the earlier years of the fandom hold up in the present. I’ll be reading the stories alphabetically by story title and jotting down my thoughts as I go.

Disclaimer: I’ve read most of these stories before and have old opinions on them. I will try not to let this affect my opinions now, but it’s probably unavoidable. There also may be spoilers for these stories, especially the longer ones, which I will do my best to tag.

Here we go:

1. Allegrezza by CoffeeGrunt
Vault Interview

Allegrezza secures its fame as one of the first and one of the most popular TaviScratch fics in the fandom. However, its age is very apparent in the writing. The story is chock full of references and horse puns (e.g.: “cheerileeos”) that distract from the plot and there are plenty of inorganic sentences. It’s particularly egregious when the narrator decides to add unnecessary commentary to lines that break the flow of the story and ruin immersion:

Octavia sputtered, coughing out dust she imagined had lain on the uncleaned carpet for weeks. In doing so, she rapidly eradicated a large colony of almost sentient dust mites, that were in the process of penning up their request to join the United Equestrian Nations. Sadly, Ponykind lost this chance for a new ally to inevitably fights wars with and exploit for labour, so perhaps it was for the better that this fledgling civilisation met its end in Octavia’s trachea, rather than having to endure that whole fiasco.

Coupled with some eye-roll worthy jokes and “internet humor” that is more likely to make you wince than laugh, the story isn’t as breezy of a read as one might expect from the tags and the length.

Nor can I say I am particularly impressed by the romance aspect of the story. The beginning is believable, if unorthodox, for a comedy with Octavia waking up in Vinyl’s bed transitioning to a challenge-turned-dinner date and so on, but it’s hard to see what the two ponies see in each other. Octavia is basically a caricature with her pompous and elitist attitude, while Vinyl is comparatively childish and lowbrow. While a romance between such a pair is far from unheard-of, the transition did not convince me. they never had a real fight as a couple The biggest sin, however, is that (large spoiler warning:) they get married literally WEEKS after meeting each other. It’s not conducive to a realistic relationship. Ultimately, it feels like the romance was held second to the comedy.

I find it difficult to recommend Allegrezza, but if you are searching for a lighthearted comedy with some sort of romance aspect, or if you are particularly invested into TaviScratch, then by all means give it a read.

Rating: 2/5

However, since these are supposed to be the cream of the crop for ponyfics, I want to take the time to highlight related stories that I’ve particularly enjoyed:

Suggested Reading: Human/Lyra

Arcadia by Blueshift
Arcadia isn’t an ever-cheerful story like Anthropology, and it’s far shorter, but it’s a fantastic story that utilizes the Lyra Is Obsessed With Humans trope in a unique way.

3. The Archer and the Smith by Sharaloth
Vault Interview

The world of The Archer and the Smith is a beautiful, terrible one. Right from the first paragraph, with its haunting rendition of a blacksmith at her work, there is a sense of wonder that teases a grand story reminiscent of high fantasy. You will not find a mundane, idyllic Equestria here. In this story, Lyra and the unnamed Shaper are both faced with impossible undertakings. Lyra’s is to slay Ferriotrax Sanguinus, one of the Sorceress’ pet monsters that stalks her domain. The Shaper’s task: provide Lyra with the weapon she needs to accomplish such a feat. The worldbuilding manages to be both tantalizing and infuriating due to the richness of the material, but the sad fact that our exposure to it is so limited. It’s noteworthy that the strength of the worldbuilding doesn’t come from descriptions of the setting as might normally be expected, but from the mannerisms and interactions of the characters. The Shaper is a gruff, stoic pony who seems almost apathetic about the world around her, like a pony who resolved to stop caring after being burned for it. In contrast, Lyra seems to be defiantly happy and could almost be considered as such were it not for the retributive perseverance in her demeanor. There’s a pervading sense of loss and tragedy in the two of them that is clearly etched into their being.

A lot of the satisfaction in the story comes from noticing and understanding the various hints to the identities of the unnamed characters in the story. They’re mostly quite easy to guess (the identity of the Druid, for instance), but the Sorceress manages to be a curveball that I didn’t observe until looking at the comments, even after several readings.

Sharaloth does an excellent job of showing the growing hope and blossoming friendship between Lyra and the Shaper, thereby illustrating how intertwined the two concepts are. Even after the change (Sharaloth’s rather understated term for the event that led to this warped version of Equestria), friendship is magic.

If there is anything close to resembling a major flaw in The Archer and the Smith, it is probably regarding its scope. It provides a fantastic setting for the events to take place within, with excellent accompanying characters and action, but the motivation for their actions is rather murky. The same vagueness that highlights the potential present in the universe in a way hides the significance of the actions taken by Lyra and the Shaper. There’s no grand purpose for the events of the story; it’s more like a vignette for a larger, as-yet-unwritten piece.

Regardless, if you are a fan of worldbuilding, or alternate universes in which the world has gone to hell and you don’t mind being tantalized by a story with untapped potential, then by all means, take the time to read this story!

Rating: 4/5

Suggested Reading: Dark(ish) Alternate Universe

It’s a bit hard to describe the sort of AU that The Archer and the Smith belongs to in a few words, but I hope the description gives a decent sense of the set of stories you’ll fine recommended here:

While there doesn’t seem to be a core story explaining the events leading to the Fallen World AU, Sharaloth has written a couple other stories in the same setting, which you can find on his user page. I can only recommend The Heart Thief, not because the other stories aren’t worth reading, but because I personally haven’t read them yet. The Heart Thief explores another previous denizen of Ponyville and another of the rulers in the Fallen World: the Tyrant.

A World Without Kindness by billymorph
A World Without Kindness is another world-gone-bad alternate universe that has a strong emphasis on hope and friendship. It’s also the winner of one of the largest contests to ever grace Fimfiction: Equestria Daily’s the More Most Dangerous Game Contest.

Austraeoh by Imploding Colon
If you read Sharaloth’s interview, you might have seen that he gave a shout-out to a mysterious group called the “Jury.” Well, that group has its origins in this series by Imploding Colon, who happens to be one of shortskirtsandexplosion’s alts. It takes a while to get rolling, but it’s the first story in a series that has captured the hearts of many, myself included.

4. Arddun Lleuad by Pride
(Note, the links on EqD seem to be dead. If you wish to read this story, you’ll have to find it on the Pony Fiction Vault download page.)
Vault Interview

To be honest, I don’t know much about Arddun Lleuad, nor its reputation. It’s one of the results of having a very old semi-popular story that never managed to move to Fimfiction. RBDash47 described it as “an excellent example of a genre that's difficult to do well - a human in Equestria. Perhaps even more ambitiously, it ships said human with everyone's favorite Princess of the Night, and succeeds wonderfully.” Moreover, it’s one of the few Human in Equestria stories that have actually been featured on Equestria Daily (though I have no idea if it may have been published before HiE became a “disapproved” genre for the site).

That being said, I cannot say I was impressed by what I saw. In fact, I did not even manage to finish reading the story before I had to call it quits. Right from the get-go the story happens to be more than a little melodramatic, which by itself wouldn’t be too terrible, but it isn’t backed up with any staying power. The dramatic events that begin the story seem to lack permanence. For example, there is an early scene in which the main character, Chester Llewellyn, encounters a hostile manticore. He is understandably terrified and runs away from the creature, only barely managing to escape with his life. Literally seven paragraphs later, it’s as if the entire event had never happened, the terror being forsaken for a sudden and overwhelming obsession with the moon.

Oh god, the moon. It was so beautiful. It was so peaceful, so graceful. It put everything to shame. Everything

Take note of the use of “so” as a means of emphasis without giving a real description of the moon, since it occurs more than just in the quoted line. It is the epitome of “tell” instead of “show.” Now, the story at least has the grace to suggest that Chester is being brainwashed, but the sheer euphoria of merely looking at the moon overwhelms him and the idea is handwaved away, never to be thought about again.

Unfortunately, from here until the point where I stopped it seems things decidedly took a turn for the worse. Chester happens to find Fluttershy sleeping in her cottage at which point he:

…had the bizarre urge to brush that mane, that tail. To protect her. To respect her. I felt no bodily, carnal urges; simply… the drive to make her happy.

It’s undoubtedly cringy (forgive me for the buzzword). Why are carnal urges even implied in this scene? It’s not really something that should be expected when a human sees a mythological creature sleeping on her bed. At any rate, there are other similar quotes a little further along the story and eventually, it became enough that I lost any desire to read this story.

If you’re interested in reading a piece of ponyfic history, go ahead and check out Arddun Lleuad, but be forewarned: there are plenty of better-aged stories from the early days of the fandom that are more worthy of your time.

Rating: 1/5 (Did Not Finish – 6/12)