Fic recs, August 9th! · 5:57pm Aug 9th, 2018

Illya Leonov has done a reading of Georg's More Precious Than Silver or Gold, with Luna Farrowe and Thornquill!

Hey, check out this blog by PrincessColumbia, about a possible origin for the name "Canterlot"! Well, Camelot, but you get the idea. :B On that note, Bad Horse has been collecting blogs, some of which I've posted here already, but I wanted to point out the newest entry by Heartshine. I'm starting to get the feeling that she's someone, like ScarletWeather, who we should all be watching.

There's a lot more Pinkie Tales in this one! (If I were bright, I'd have collated the readings and done an edition. >.<) I mention this up here because one that's not is Discord Tales: Goldichaos and the Three Princesses. That one's video-only! But it's no less funny than the others, so make sure you watch it. :)

H: 0 R: 2 C: 3 V: 0 N: 0

Bootleg Applejack by CategoricalGrant
Reading by Ichabod Creep
Genre: Crackfic
Twilight finds an anomaly in Sweet Apple Acres' taxes.
I tell ya, I'm all for Twilight being an excited nerd about tax day. Other readers may be less amenable to how harsh she is on Applejack, but that's why I label this crackfic. It's perfectly hilarious, with extremely well-timed out of character moments for everyone involved. It's honestly a good bit better than I'd been expecting, given the premise.
Recommended for Laughs

Pinkie Tales: The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Rariwolf by Magpiepony
Reading by the Author, et. al.
Genre: Fairy Tale Comedy
Three pigs run afoul of a wolf in an enchanted, whimsical forest.
It was bound to happen eventually: I'm not wholly over the moon with this one. It's not bad, don't get me wrong, but it features one of my greatest pet peeves: Bad poetry. :| The pigs' speech (with one funny exception) is entirely rhymed, and not all of it rolls off the tongue, so to speak. Other than that, though, this offers a lot of the same things the other Pinkie Tales do: humorous use of characters (Rarity is once again amazing as the wolf), fanciful adaptation of classic fairy tales to a more pony-themed setting, and some really solid comedy in the changes made to the story details. Plus, y'know, fourth-wall shenanigans. If you've liked the others, and you're not me, you'll probably get just as big a kick out of this one.
Recommended If You've Enjoyed the Other Pinkie Tales

The Light Killed My Children by klystron2010
Reading by Scribbler and BlackIrisBalloon
Genre: Monologue
To live in the dark, one must first kill the love of the light.
You've seen this kind of story before: Sombra talks about his history and why he did what he did. And while none of his arguments are going to convince anyone he was right, that's really not the point. This is a solid entry of "ramblings of a madpony" style, and though Sombra's mind is definitely twisted, you'll at least come to understand why he thought he was right. Not bad.
Recommended

Pinkie Tales: Cindershy by Magpiepony
Reading by the Author, et. al.
Genre: Fairy Tale Comedy
Harangued by her evil step-family, Cindershy can only do as told and stay optimistic, until one fateful night…
The casting is probably the biggest sell here. I mean, Fluttershy as Cinderella is a no-brainer, she's absolutely perfect, while Rarity as the evil stepmother might make you look askance until you realize what a role the stepmother's cat plays in the story. The mice are fun, and there's a good running gag about one of their names. Spike is the amazing one here; I think this is the first Pinkie Tale to feature him, though the effect may be best appreciated in the video. I also wanted to say, I expected the Prince to be Shining Armor, especially after Twilight was introduced, so his real identity was a pleasant surprise (and a good ship!) More good fourth-wall humor, of course; why Applejack is always the one who knows what's going on and has a hard time playing along, I don't know, but it remains a fantastic gag. My only complaint would be that it's a bit long, but that's in service of hitting all the major points of the original, while changing up enough things to keep it feeling pony. Also an attempt at actually giving the Prince and his beloved some chemistry, which I cannot fault. All in all, another good entry in this series. :)
Recommended

Guy Talk by Jay David
Stoned Reading by Scarlett Blade
Genre: Comedy
Gallus just wants to have a conversation with Sandbar about what he likes.
The one thing I really wish this story had done was come to a conclusion about Gallus's behavior. It doesn't portray it as right or wrong; it doesn't seem to care one way or the other. "But the other half do" isn't exactly an excuse, but it may be the closest thing to a statement being made here. Unfortunate, since this sort of teaching-via-fanfic is something I rather care about. Still, there are at least two really good jokes in here, both at Gallus's expense, and I was laughing by the end. I guess that's the point.
Recommended for Laughs