Fic recs, February 21st!

Now here's something new: iisaw made a font!

Remember last time, when I was all, "Imma read things off my RIN!"? Well, I didn't actually end up doing that. <.< So this time, I totally pulled everything from it! ...Except, by 'everything' I mean 'three stories'. c.c; Hey, I'm trying, there's a lot that needs read. And hey, I hit the first milestone of the year already!

H: 2 R: 1 C: 2 V: 0 N: 0

Now I Know in Part by Cynewulf
Read by Fimfiction
Genre: Sci-Fi
For the humans, it was First Contact. For Twilight Sparkle, it was anything but.
First, this is beautiful, because have I mentioned Cynewulf is one of the best writers on the site? Second, I can characterize it as Cynewulf having written a science-fiction story, with humans and space travel and time loops and all that, and, to assuage perhaps some sense of guilt towards the characters she'd created, let them hang out with Twilight Sparkle so at least someone was getting something positive out of the whole messy tragedy. Meanwhile, Twilight herself is characterized as depressed — or, more accurately, terribly lonely and not realizing how much she misses her home — and she both drives the story and gives it atmosphere. If you enjoy solving mysteries on the fly, you'll love the way this slowly builds. (And I should mention, though I was likely drawn to this story by the suggestion of a link, this is not a Ship Who Sang crossover. And that's just fine.)
Highly Recommended

Why No One Messes With Discord by scion
Sequel to Why No One Messes With Luna
100th Review of 2018!
Genre: Mass Effect 3 Crossover
With the war against the Reapers at its final hour, the Equestrians send their greatest weapon to give Commander Shepard a fourth option...
Where the first story in this series was a commendable crossover dealing with one of my greatest loves — Badasslestia — and the second came down much harder on the crossover side, but was no less badass, this one is indelibly rooted in Mass Effect lore. Thankfully, the author at least realizes this and put a warning label on it. The letdown for me, though, is that I find badass Discord to be not nearly as interesting to me as anything alicorn related. And, well, I don't really know anything about ME3 save the fan backlash over its ending (I got confused by the presence of things called 'Crucible' and 'Citadel', for instance), and I don't know enough about that to say if this is an attempt to salvage it. (From the linked blogs, it would appear it is.) Still, there is some fun chaos writing in this, so it's got that much going for it, and I remain impressed by scion's ability to write Shepard entirely genderless, so you can insert your preferred version into the story yourself.
Recommened If You're Still Salty about Mass Effect 3's Ending

Rainbow Dash and the Pie Sisters by KingMoriarty
Sequel to Iron Wing and the Demolition Crew
Genre: Sombra Future
Behind every battlefield legend is a pony who was a soldier.
Iron Wing and the Demolition Crew introduced us to Rainbow Dash, Maud and Pinkamena Pie: the undeniable badasses of the Sombra Future AU. This gives us a behind the scenes of who these ponies were; note the parallel title and what it suggests. They're no less badass this time around, though; just read the scene of Maud constructing Dash's prosthetic wing if you want to find out how things can be epic entirely outside the field of battle. Around the edges is talk of what war does to a person, how that lingers after it's over. This probably won't be as striking if you don't have the first to compare it to, but all the parallels are clever, and this ends up being a very strong supporting piece.
Highly Recommended

The Trouble With Unicorns by Admiral Biscuit
Genre: PoE
A Super Bowl marketing scheme goes horribly wrong.
This is like, a sports crossover or something. <.< While the football jargon may make your eyes glaze over if you're not into the sport, it's worth pointing out that this story features nearly five-hundred ponies who don't know anything more about American sports than you do, so you needn't worry about feeling lost. No, this is a story about the weird things sports fans do, even, as it would seem, when they have no idea what's going on around them. It's just amazing watching this comedy unfold itself, as one minor cultural misunderstanding leads to another and everything snowballs into disaster. The effect may still be strongest for people who have at least passing familiarity with what's going on, but darnit, I thought it was funny. I mean, everyone can appreciate a good Nickelback joke.
Recommended

Scabs by 4EverfreeBrony
Genre: Character Piece
Trixie works on the rock farm. She's not exactly enjoying herself.
Loganberry found out one of the fandom's best musicians also has a few fanfics to his name, and I just had to read the other one. :D Anyway, though I did chuckle at the end, the comedy tag may be overselling this. It's a perfectly fine look into Trixie's mindset as she labors away on the Pie Family farm, years before we knew anything about that family themselves. She does a lot of shouting at rocks and being her perfect, aggravating self. I mean, I guess there's not much here, but I liked it. :B
Recommended for Trixie Fans

Comments

[Csquared08]

The "Why No One Messes With" trilogy was an absolute delight.