More Reviews From EFN · 2:44am May 20th, 2018
I'm getting more reading done at this con than I have all year up until now.
The Big Red Button by Jay David
This one is kinda weak. The premise allows plenty of interesting comedy, but it doesn't allow itself room to breathe and let it happen. The second the set-up is explained I saw the reveal coming, but the reveal still wasn't very funny, just kinda obvious. The ending joke is also very weak as both a joke and an ending.
Recommendation: This story needed to be a lot longer to fully milk its concept.
Holiday Sunlight by RS-Belle14
This story quickly descended into mediocrity by having several pages of talking heads between Twilight and Sunset. Pages of it. And basically just to recap the events of No Second Prances in more detail than is needed. The fic also has shifts in POV, starting off with a third-person limited with Sunset, then shifting to third-person limited with Twilight by showing her thoughts. So sometimes we see characters' thoughts on things and sometimes not. And by the end of these multiple pages of talking heads, apparently the characters are still walking and Sunset hasn't even told Twilight where she's taking her. At this point any investment or interest in the story was heavily deflated, so I began skimming. And unfortunately these problems don't improve. So just know that a lot of the fic boils down to talking heads.
Also, the fic really plays up Twilight's naivette too much. Twilight notes she "thinks I've seen our friends with those", those being cellphones. Yeah, Rainbow shoved on in your face in Rainbow Rocks. Even if it hasn't been directly explained, Twilight has seen cell phones. Though I do like Sunset's comment that "They're a lot like Spike except less supportive and more fragile and overpriced." Later the fic makes a serious point of Sunset explaining war to Twilight, scaring her, and then consoling her by pointing out Friendship is a thing too. And then the fic goes out of its way to address the existence of ponies and horses in the human world and Sunset pointedly not telling Twilight the more unpleasant things they're used for.
We end on a very, very awkward confession of feelings and discussion of Sunset coming back to Equestria. And I don't mean awkward in the sense of "ah, they're so adorkable together", I mean in the sense of "the author really didn't do this very well."
Recommendation: Only 10,000 words but it feels much longer and emptier due to the poor technical aspects. Pass.
Together We Can Name This Town by Justice3442
The second I saw the author I prepared myself for hilarious absurdity.
“If you’re leading this City Hall session, doesn’t that imply you’re of a higher stature than—”
“OKAY!”Starlight said quickly. “Let’s get started!”
He did not betray my trust.
Turns out when you try to make equality the philosophical cornerstone of a town, it can be very, very difficult.
Recommendation: This story is not any better or worse than any other story you may read today. However, if one was to read but a single story that happened to be this one, they would say it is quite hilarious, though more more or less than any other story on this site.
Cutie Mark Crusaders Forever by Palm Palette
I didn't check the tags before clicking this fic, so I was quite surprised by how things unfolded and the reveals came.
Let me put in this way - the Cutie Mark Crusaders wanted to get their cutie marks. They were tired of failing at everything, they wanted to succeed. And get the same cutie mark so they can be together forever.
They got their wish.
Recommendation: A very unique, interesting, and slightly dark and tragic depiction of the CMC chasing the impossible dream.
So this is great. Spike and Maud together. Why has the show not done this? They enjoy the same type of milkshake - topaz.
This is really one of those fics where I shall use the tired old cliche "this should be an episode". Well, it wouldn't sustain a full episode, but certainly could be a scene in one. The author nails the character voices perfectly, everything that happens is something I can visualize in my head as some not out-of-place from the show. They also examine the key trait of Maud as a character - that she DOES have emotions, desires, and moods like any other pony, she just doesn't express them normally. Spike relates her behavior, such as it is, to Pinkie, and she immediately knows what's wrong just from Maud's physical cues.
This is a simple but well-thought out piece and gives us a pairing the show hasn't, and goes good places with it.
Recommendations: A fun and funny short with a nice dash of feels for flavoring.
:D
4864749
Stop reading. Go have fun.
4864755
Reading IS fun! [/Twilight]
Hey, thanks for the review! I'm glad you liked it. This didn't do that well in the write-off it was created for (finished 36th of 57), and I didn't change much upon subsequent editing, but people seem to like it well enough.
That's basically the summary of that author
I also vouch for Maud-lin being all sorts of excellent
4864752
Idunno :B
I'm glad you're reviewing things, even if I have nothing constructive to add.
4864976
Fair enough then.