Fic recs, September 3rd: New Character Tags, Season 6 edition! · 4:45pm Sep 3rd, 2018
Loganberry has done a reading of his story We Who With Songs Beguile! :D ('Bout time, says I!) Dr. Wolf has begun a reading of Rainb0w Dashie's Waiting for You!
You've likely already seen it, but Aquaman wants to run a bookstore at BronyCon next year, and he needs the community's help to make it a success!
I will hopefully not be too late with this, but Steel Resolve needs some help! Wanderer D isn't doing too hot, either. :/
And in case you missed the news on EQD, Visualpony has had his Youtube channel demonitized for stupid reasons (are there any other kind?), so he's moving to Bitchute. I don't know what that is, but I wish him luck.
So yeah, season 6. About time, I guess. <.< I've got one more left of these to do, and this one's happening because, yeesh, I've had no time lately to do anything, and I wanted to get all that news out before any more of it piled up. @_@ So, uh, hope you guys enjoy this and stuff.
H: 2 R: 2 C: 2 V: 3 N: 2
Zephyr Breeze:
Back Off by Summer Dancer
Genre: Comedy/Light Shipping
Soarin's not a fan of Rainbow Dash's new 'friend'.
Yeugh. This excellently characterized story perfectly encapsulates everything that makes Zephyr Breeze loathsome, and I hope I never have to read another story that writes him as well as this one. x.x That said, our choices for male characters in this fic are "posturing alpha asshole" and "skeevy beta asshole", to borrow some terminology I do not exactly agree with. Soarin isn't really winning any points by white knighting for Rainbow, and c'mon, it's SoarinDash, that's a terrible ship. :B This will nevertheless likely be cathartic to anyone still sore over Zeph getting anything positive handed to him, but even then, it's not terribly strong in that regard.
Vaguely Recommended
Vapor Trail:
The Mile-High Club by PKMN Trainer Red
Mature: Sex
Genre: Clop
Sky Stinger and Vapor Trail return home from Wonderbolt Academy, and make a surprising confession.
The fifth word of this story is "ponydunk", as in a ponification of "podunk". I cannot even. I could even less when, at the end of the first scene, Vapor contemplates getting out of Sky Stinger's "friendship zone". Unfortunately, though I was drawn in by the promises of heartwarming clop for an excellent ship, I was ultimately let down by the execution. Punctuation errors abound, but worse is the anime-style dialogue and POV shifting. This is, sadly, just your run-of-the-mill clopfic, with all the downsides that entails.
Not Recommended
Sky Stinger:
Stinging the Trail by Impossible Numbers
Genre: Character Piece
Sky Stinger begins to wonder just what kind of a pony Vapor Trail is.
The premise here is simple: Vapor Trail's family is far more well-to-do than Sky Stinger's, and he's only just now realizing that's the case, with all the social baggage that comes along with economic disparity. All this comes out in not so many words of intense world- and character-building, based off one single, tiny detail from the show. The end result is some excellent internal drama and the acknowledgement that Impossible Numbers is, without a doubt, one of the best writers on the site.
Highly Recommended
Saffron Masala:
The Icing on the Hearth's Warming Cake by Impossible Numbers
Genre: Slice of Life
Coriander accompanies his daughter to see whatever this silly Hearth's Warming pageant thing is.
This is the kind of Slice of Life that is so worth it. Impossible Numbers serves up yet another tremendous piece of character building, exploring Coriander's relationship with his daughter, his homeland, the family he's left behind, and his past. This is so rich, and there's just so much going on that I really want you all to experience it for yourselves. Just take my word that this is awesome. :D
Highly Recommended
Coriander Cumin:
"IT'S RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW!!!" by LtMajorDude
Genre: Kitchen Nightmares Crossover?
One particular pony at the Tasty Treat has something to say to Zesty Gourmand.
Chances are, wherever Coriander Cumin is, his daughter isn't far behind; to wit, this is higher rated than the Saffron story I picked, not to mention has almost none of him, while that one was all about him, but whatever, my choices were limited. :B Okay, so the thing I hate about this? Literally no attempt to ponify Gordon Ramsay's name. He's just Gordon Ramsay! D: So this is 1700 words of Gordon Ramsay yelling at Zesty Gourmand, with some lines I have definitely actually heard him say in various things. It's entirely in character for him, but there's not a lot of point to it otherwise. I mean, if you're a fan of Ramsay, this will break no new ground for you.
Vaguely Recommended
Flurry Heart:
Suncered by Summer Dancer
Reading by mindlessgonzo
How helpful that this story just happened to have a reading by a reader I needed to get a second opinion on. His reading of Pinkie Pie Places Her Tongue on a Polar-Temperature Pole was fraught with being a livestream and having someone else present who was only there to provide inane commentary. That, unfortunately, seems to be mindlessgonzo's M.O., and so I'm going to have to give him a pass. I don't need to listen to other people mocking fanfction, I'm perfectly capable of doing that myself, thank you. :|
Genre: EQG Comedy
With Ponyville under attack, Twilight has to fob off her babysitting duties to Sunset Shimmer. There's no way that could go wrong.
I was impressed by the opening scene of this story, which presents us an ongoing spaghetti incident that was both amusing and something I was okay with not reading, for all that it promised to be far more epic than Sunset Shimmer's Adventures in Babysitting. But, turns out, babies swearing is hilarious. And I was rather impressed by the solution to Sunset's problem. There's a lot of small things to enjoy about this, as well. It's a one-joke fic, but the joke is funny, so why do you need more? :)
Recommended
Ember:
Unicorns and Dragon Eggs (Or Ember's Mother Conspiracy) by Lise Eclaire
Reading by VisualPony
Genre: Random Comedy
On a friendship trip to Ponyville, Ember encounters an unexpected familiar face.
This is an intense bit of silliness masquerading as extremely ridiculous headcanon. There's a little more going on here than what appears on the surface, though. I lol'd.
Recommended for Laughs
Sunburst:
Sunspawned by Masterweaver
Read by Fimfiction
Prequel to Sunsplit
Genre: Comedy/Existential Drama
You wouldn't think Celestia spent time in public bathhouses.
As a prequel sequel, this is the "how it happened" of Sunsplit's hilarious and clever relationship between Sunburst and Sunset Shimmer. But because I don't want to give that plot line away, I really can't talk about this story. Suffice to say, it's every bit as clever; this isn't exactly a canonical backstory for Sunset, but everything that happens here makes perfect sense given her character. And while it's also not as funny as the original, don't let that 'existential' tag scare you away; that's the meat. Watching Sunset argue magical technobabble with Princess Celestia for a few hundred words is trippy.
Recommended
Mr. Stripes:
Mr. Stripes vs. a Cthonic Horror by Carabas
Read by Fimfiction
Genre: Comedy
Mr. Stripes has no time for Diamond Dogs or hysterical ponies or eldritch horrors from the deep, not when his daughter's still needs a birthday present!
This is, sadly, one of Carbas's thinner comedies, which is a shame, because I do so adore any reason to read Plaid Stripes. He writes a good angry/confused mob, but the pacing is extremely slow, and the good jokes spaced about equidistant throughout. I mean, there's only so much traction you can get out of "ponies aren't as scared by Elder Things as they maybe should be". (Though the view from the Dweller's perspective is hilariously outside what you'd expect.) There is some good stuff in here, but you may find yourself wishing he'd just gotten to the point, already.
Recommended for Stripes Family Fans
Plaid Stripes:
Sassy Stripes by Masterweaver
Genre: Slice of Life
Rarity's subordinates don't exactly have a lot in common…
They're both written well, so I can say without a doubt that my disdain for Sassy Saddles greatly overrides my love of Plaid Stripes. <.< This story, then, is just a short conversation between the two as Rarity gathers her employees for a little meet-and-greet. And that's it. The conversation doesn't even come to a point, the story just stops, leaving all the interesting stuff to the reader's imagination. I want to know what Rarity and Coco were talking about, darnit! I just don't get this one.
Vaguely Recommended
Thorax:
Spike Comes to His Senses by Justice3442
Genre: Fixfic
Thorax's leadership problems may not be as small as he thought.
Do you feel like reading five thousand words of people yelling at each other? Yeah, and I'll bet you like Anon-a-Miss fics, too. This was a bad idea from start to finish, as fixfics tend to be. We get some deeper, more serious information about what's going on at the changeling hive, Spike attempts to short-circuit the episode, and it doesn't work, because everyone just keeps yelling and ignoring him when he tries to get them to stop. It's irritating. Did not enjoy this.
Not Recommended
Do you generally like to dislike justice’s stuff? I kinda liked Angry and Newspaper. Unless those aren’t his in which case I still liked them but this comment is irrelevant.
Also here’s a group for the bookstore
https://www.fimfiction.net/group/213894/the-bronycon-bookstore
4930829
Honestly, I tend to enjoy Justice's stuff. His EQG comedies hit the right blend of stupid and hilarious
just like my stuff. But fixfics are a whole other bagel. I pretty much knew from the description I wouldn't like that one. :/Much obliged for the review!
Note to self, make future comedies even denser.
Thanks anyway for taking your time to review the worthless shit I write for some apparent reason.
And maybe I didn't ponified Ramsay's name because I knew it would tick off some people...
By the way, you're right. Why the hell did I put Cumin's tag in the first place?
4930835
I tend to agree. I’m much more inclined to enjoy the ones that aren’t so much fix-fics as they are point-out-the-absurdity fics.
4931176
Now maybe you'll listen to me. >:V