Fic recs, February 10th! · 2:39pm Feb 10th, 2019
Just another mass of stories I needed to get read for one reason or another! :B Work on the Comedy Contest is moving apace!
H: 0 R: 1 C: 5 V: 0 N: 1
Emotional Support Pony by An Intricate Disguise
Genre: PoE/Mental Health
I couldn't go on feeling so trapped. I needed a way out.
What if My Little Dashie was about overcoming mental illness rather than an uncaring world? That's what you've got here, really. Not to suggest this is trite or poorly written, more that it's focused on wish fulfillment. And not that I could say this wasn't a wish that didn't need to be fulfilled. It's also an excellent portrayal of social anxieties, depression, pretty much you name it. Of course, it's does such a good job with the realities of mental illness that I was kind of blindsided by the "ponies are integrating with our world" reveal; I'd forgotten I was reading fanfic by that point. It's fucking weird that way, but I take that as a point in favor of realism. But yeah, if you're one of those lucky enough not to have to deal with this kind of thing, the first half of this is one of those illuminating pieces of writing, while overall, this is more important for those who do.
Recommended If You're Hurting
No Rod for Maud 2018 by forbloodysummer
Genre: Dark Comedy
Maud returns home to find her coltfriend has joined in Equestria's latest Maud-centric craze.
The title of this story comes from a one-off joke in a DWK video, and if you're not familiar with it, you might want to change that A) because DWK is great, and B) if you want to read this story. I liked this not for its fandom references, but because of the strong lesson in relationships and mature love that it had no business being about. The second and third chapters are where the actual humor comes in, and it is pretty funny, especially if you're a horrible person. Or you don't like Mudbriar. :V
Recommended for Laughs
The Centerpiece of My Collection by geldon
Genre: Sparity/Future Fic
In Spike's hoard is a flawless statue of a pony.
Man, three-digit story number. Heavy. As I read this story, I was struck by how post-S1 dragon canon really precludes stories like this being written. I mean, Spike, taking pride in his hoard, in his own dragon-ness? Just doesn't fit with the Spike we have today. That's a real shame. But yeah, this is all about what it means — or could have meant — to be a dragon, and in that way, it makes a decent case for taking Spike's crush on Rarity seriously, because it's not exactly what the rest of us think it was. And yeah, it's interminably steeped in S1 as the be-all and end-all of what we knew of the show — references to characters, lines of dialogue, and events — but that comes with the temporal footprint. And hey, it explicitly avoids immortality angst! A good blast from the past.
Recommended
The Unicorn and Her Boy by ChudoJogurt
Sequel to As Told by Sunset
Genre: Chronicles of Narnia Crossover
Once upon a time, Sunset met a human and almost destroyed the world.
I've only ever read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and I never liked it, so I know next to nothing about Narnia. Point is, reading this gave me the same feeling as those half-fanfics, where the author starts out with canon characters, then throws them into a world completely of their own making and spends a lot of time focused on the trials and tribulations of that world when I just want to read about magical goddamn ponies. :B The other problem is that, outside the introduction and interlude scenes, this once again sounds like someone writing a story, not Sunset telling one. (Though perhaps that's an affect of her having spent so long in a fantasy kingdom…) Otherwise, I can't fault the writing, and my lack of understanding is definitely my own. A lot of the action happens off-screen, which at least keeps this from being overly long, but what we do see is handled pretty darn well. And I got a kick out of Sunset butting heads with essentially the main characters. This needs some editing, but it was pretty darned exciting, and fans of both the original book series and sword-and-sorcery stories in general will doubtless find so as well.
Recommended for Narnia Fans
Chromatic Chronomancy by Zennistrad
Sequel to Oversaturation
Genre: Science-Fiction
There's something strange about Dr. Turner, and Sunset's going to get to the bottom of it.
The Oversaturated World grows more and more erudite the longer I keep up with it, and I blame Magic: The Gathering. :| At least this story wasn't as obtuse as the one which introduced Ravnica High to the world, but it's pretty close. Perhaps the weirdest thing is that I'm not sure, despite the piano sound motifs, that this is meant as a Doctor Who crossover either. I mean, Time Turner has time powers, that's a given. Weird! Anyway, the writing's good, the plot holds together well, just be warned there may be a ton of references you're not apt to get.
Recommended for Sci-Fi Fans
Twenty-Eight Boulders by AstralMouse
Reading by Lotus Moon
Genre: Psychological
Chrysalis has built a new hive. And next week, she'll build another. And the ponies won't find her. Unless they do.
I really did like The Mean Six, and I welcome Chrysalis as inheritor of post-S1 Trixie's "going crazy alone in the woods" shtick. This story has a really strong voice, capitalizing on Chrysalis's narcissism and paranoia as she tries to avoid detection by both ponies and former changelings. That said, the fun of an unreliable narrator is being able to tease out what's actually going on around them. While I won't say I wasn't able to do so, the detail of the titular boulders stymied me a bit, and when I finally came to a conclusion, it didn't feel like a reveal large enough to justify the amount of effort made to reach it. That said, I still enjoyed this; you will too if you have a taste for these kinds of stories.
Recommended If You Enjoy Unreliable Narrators
That's not what spooning means! by Silent Whisper
Sequel to Fruit Salad
Review Removed by Request
This was entirely unexpected to see my story here, and it's an honor that you read and reviewed it, let alone enjoyed it.
That said, I am really wishing I had done more with that story now, heh. The unreliable narrator bit is something I could have really played with more than I did.
5010821
Am I right in thinking her confusion over the count of the boulders is meant to imply that she's been making her numerous lairs in this one cave every few days, and destroying the boulders fairly regularly?
I remember reading Centerpiece back in the day.
The feels were reals.
5010824
Spoilers below.
That wasn't the intent. The reason the pile isn't trusted is just that she worries a changeling has been hiding among them, as it's what she would do, and even though she counts 28 every time, in her mind, she is so sure that she's been followed that she creates false memories of how many were there. Destroying them was kind of her watershed moment, where she was finally contacted by the reformed changelings (perhaps tracking her down really was difficult), and that was her final chance to redeem herself, but she instead attacked what she thought was Thorax, solidifying her fate of being forever on the run.
Hope that's a satisfying explanation, eheh.
5010838
Oh, huh. o.O That's interesting.
This was actually meant as a crossover with my current My Little Planeswalker series, in which Dr. Time Turner is a fairly major character. I don’t blame you for not picking that up though, it’s mostly incidental to what I wanted with this story, which is a fun little story that’s unrelated to the broader MLPlaneswalker storyline.
5011027
Yeah, I dunno about Magic at all. D:
Collection of my Centerpiece was pretty good, and much better than Centerpiece of my Collection as I recall. I was unaware you’d never reviewed/read it. Iirc it predates this site.
5011083
I agree on the evaluation. Review of the second will come next time!
There were good and bad aspects of post S1 dragon-related developments. The greed reaction is probably the most important, since so much else (the dragon version of " * are jerks!"--see also griffins--mainly) is pretty much shown to be relatively easily overcome as a matter of personal development (with a side of "the right leader can reshape a whole society"). Not sure how much else has actually been done that focuses on how dragons are different from ponies in ways that are stickier. (And even the dragon-greed thing is shown to be basically manageable if you know to watch for it.) I guess the part about being kicked out during adolescence?
One of those paradoxes where fleshing out the world at the level actually chosen in a sense diminished it, since it went fairly light on the differences, especially since Ember became the Dragon Lord.
Anyway, "Centerpiece" was good and is deservedly remembered as a classic.
5011111
The show's always been headed away from the hard fantasy early writers liked to employ. But yeah, 'diminished' is a good word.