Fic recs, April 18th! · 11:28pm Apr 18th, 2019
In case you missed his post about it, Illya Leonov has blessed us with the rare face reveal, to say nothing of the outcome of his surgery! If you helped out, you made a difference in his life! :D
Holy crap, after a two-year hiatus, Fallout Equestria: Heroes has finished! That was quite the surprise to see on EQD!
Had a pony dream last night. You wouldn't know it by this description, but it was basically a footnote in a fanfic. Went something like this:
Those wishing to know more on the subject should consult Elegiac's excellent series of talks entitled Elegant Books No One Thought to Read.
It sounds like something horizon or GhostOfHeraclitus would write. XD Up for grabs if anyone wants it!
It's been a while, but I wanted to get the news out in a timely-ish fashion. :B I'm embroiled in two longfics and a long edition, so have some random stories I've been saving recently, for a change!
H: 1 R: 1 C: 3 V: 0 N: 0
Dreams and Bonds by bats
Read by Fimfiction
Genre: Shipping
Twilight's new castle is decorated, much more like a home now, but she's still having trouble sleeping…
I'm pretty sure I read a story not long ago whose plot was basically what Twilight's having nightmares about in this story. I don't know if that was a trend during season five or anything, but it'd be neat ot think this was written as a counterpoint to it. Anyway, I was a little concerned that this might go into "having a relationship will fix your mental problems", but bats is a good writer and had things work the way they should. No unspoken crushes to act on, not even grand declarations of romance; just the recognition by both parties that they've been sharing a bed for a while now, and neither wants to give it up for its own sake. Non-shippers may still find things to like about this as well, since the focus isn't only on Twilight when it comes to how the fight with Tirek affected the mane six.
Recommended
After I Looked Up, the Stars Had Gone Away by The Seer
Genre: Horror
There is no validity to gut feeling. So why is Twilight so scared?
This inspired AstralMouse's Twenty-Eight Boulders, so I wanted to check it out. Oh boy. One of the best horror stories on the site, hands down. This is a story about fear, as concept, as feeling, as sensation. We're trapped in Twilight's mind the entire time, and despite her very logical rationalization of everything she experiences, she's still scared out of her wits. Even when you look at the body of evidence she compiles that None of This Is Real, there's a tiny little part of her mind and yours going, "...isn't it?" Doubt creates fear where there would otherwise be nothing, and this is a master class in the concept.
Highly Recommended
A Meeting of the Mare(Friend)s by The Bricklayer
Genre: Shipping Comedy
Twilight and her marefriend prepare to meet… Twilight and her marefriend.
I have to admit, I came here for Tempest and Sunset bonding and being snarky and embarrassing their girlfriends, and I got that in spades. Once this gets to that part, it's fun. But I also take some issue with the voicing, Tempest especially, to say nothing of the use of hyphens in place of parentheses and some other structural issues. This isn't high-class comedy, and it's not above having characters use fandom jokes. It is, in other words, the kind of story where you know what you're getting going into it, and you get nothing besides.
Recommended for Shippers Only
Anniversary of What? by Gutovi
Genre: Shipping Comedy
Applejack and Fluttershy celebrate a year of dating… Wait, what?
Okay, this is really funny, mostly because there's a lot more to it than Twilight running around, trying to figure out how such a momentous occasion could drop on her out of the blue. And yeah, it just kind of breaks down into "here's a list of canon scenes supporting Appleshy", but by that point, it had built up a lot of good graces, so I just rolled with it. The main issue, oddly enough like the previous story, is voicing, of just about everyone besides Rarity. This is unfortunate, though, since it's first-person. I still really enjoyed reading this, though I don't expect it will offer much to anyone not interested in shipping.
Recommended for Shippers
Twilight Sparkle vs. Barbara, Queen of the Communists by Greenback
Genre: Crackfic
There are communists all over Equestria! Time for marriage!
It's another predictive-text fic, and though last time, I said I didn't want to see any more… Yeah, I kinda can't get enough of these. Also, it sounds like the author actually did some writing and revising, which is definitely the way to go about these. And what more is there to say? This is a huge pile of nonsense (with a good ship!), and I enjoy huge piles of nonsense. It's funny as hell!
Recommended If You Enjoy Huge Piles of Nonsense
'Preciate the review.
I get the feeling that if predictive-text fics get more popular, they'll be banned from the site.
Also, I wonder whether Elegiac's talks are about great books that are underappreciated, or rubbish ones that are overhyped.
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I imagine it's just books that look really nice, that everyone wants to have on their shelf, but that no one actually wants to read. So probably the latter.
Appreciate the review, although I do admit I am confused what you mean by fandom jokes. I'm not exactly clued in to what's a fandom joke and what's not, to be frank.
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Hm. There were a few ("adorkable" comes to mind), but I may have actually meant the characters' propensity to discuss various show plotholes as fans would. <.<
5046498
Ah, I see.
Thanks a lot for the review bud!
I'm certainly chuffed to have the sort of reputation here that you'd think of me for that!
Also, thanks for the pointer to Illya. For some reason I wasn't following him :-p
5046601
This is why I do what I do.
Aw yiss, good to see After I Looked Up, the Stars Had Gone Away getting some well-deserved attention. It really is underviewed, and a fantastic gem of a horror story that was buried into obscurity.