Fic recs, July 18th! · 11:07pm Jul 18th, 2019
Scribbler's newest reading is Estee's Customer Disservice!
My newest reading is MythrilMoth's Three Little Fillies! I only wish he were around to hear it…
In a random but relevant piece of news, Abecedarian is not dead! I'd been led to believe they'd gone peacefully into that good night, so this is pleasing to hear. :)
And don't forget, The First Fimfiction Feghoot Contest submission deadline is this Friday, July 19th at 11:59:59 pm, Pacific Time!
So I've spent the last week freaking the fuck out about Trotcon. (Is it possible to get pre-con depression?) To help alleviate my fears somewhat, have a last-minute review blog. Been listening to lengthy stories on Fimfic because I can't plan well, so these are minifics!
H: 1 R: 8 C: 12 V: 0 N: 0
Big Box by Cold in Gardez
Genre: Comedy
Magic isn't about corporations.
Okay, but really this is more of a tragedy? A big-box arcana store moves into Ponyville, and Twilight tries desperately to keep it from outclassing her favorite little shop owned by a wizened crone. This is a lot more high fantasy than MLP tends to be, but it's still fun thinking about Twilight needing spiders and the tears of her enemies for magic things. Just, as funny as this is, the ending is a real downer.
Recommended
Portrait of a Mare by Esle Ynopemos
Genre: Comedy
Wow, one more and I'll be done with this one! :O That's crazy to think about. Anyway, this is a light, silly comedy about ponies at an art gallery reading a little too much into the subject of a photograph. I like how the image that prompted this was in fact the precise one they're commenting on.
Recommended for Laughs
Who Are You, Pinkie? by Esle Ynopemos
Genre: Shipping
This is a cute internal monologue wherein Fluttershy describes all of Pinkie's best and worst qualities ahead of a near-declaration of love. It's nothing too original, but it is still a good character piece that FlutterPie shippers will appreciate.
Recommended for Shippers
Horseshoe Master by Esle Ynopemos
Genre: Comedy
Rainbow Dash and Applejack discover Spike's hidden talent.
I love the way the reveal in this story was handled. This was hilarious.
Recommended
Spike's Bad Day by Nonagon
Genre: Random
It just goes to show, you have a punchline without a story, but sometimes the journey is more important than the destination.
Recommended as Light Reading
The Most Interesting Mare in the World by FuzzyFurvert
Genre: Slice of Life
It's so weird: reading the A/N at the start, I figured this would just have petered out before the main joke got tired. Instead, the main joke never even shows up and what you have is a perfectly amenable slice of life scene of the mane six drying off after getting caught in the rain. It's cute. Just strange how abandoning a fic can leave you with something completely different.
Recommended for Slice of Life Fans
Not So Secret Admirer by HoofAndQuill
Genre: Shipping
I was going to complain that the mystery portion of this was blown way open the second another pony showed up in the story, but happily, that turns out not to be the point here. In other words, this isn't so much a "whodunit" as a "whydunit". Non-shippers won't appreciate it, but shippers definitely will.
Recommended for Shippers
Reasonable Doubt by FanOfMostEverything
Genre: Random Comedy
This is a takeoff from another of FOME's stories, and normally I would go read that first, but it's a cancelled sequel to another story and just ugh. So I might have missed a few things here, but I'm always happy to read about Lyra acting weird, especially when it's toward Bon-Bon.
Recommended for Lyra Fans
The CMC's Deepest Secrets by Admiral Biscuit
Reading by ShadowOfCygnus
Genre: Slice of Life
Okay, so you can kind of guess what this story is about. There's three secrets at play. Apple Bloom's is something I've seen done before, but it makes for a good character moment. Sweetie Belle's is where most of the humor comes from, and yet I found myself extremely touched the way her friends turn it into something good they can support her in. And then there's Scootaloo's, which is the punchline and surprisingly not as funny as I thought it would be. I dunno why, it just fell flat right at the end. Still a unique explanation for why she can't fly, though.
Recommended for CMC Fans
Subduction Zone by AugieDog
Genre: Poem
Gee, I find myself wishing there had been some form to this. It's the perfect formalism of Augie's poetry that I love so much. c.c That said, this is obviously a Maud poem, so it's got that going for it. I also liked the image of rocks 'dancing'. Not bad.
Recommended for Poetry Fans
Oh My by Silvernis
Genre: Sexual Comedy
It's not like Rainbow Dash to be late for a picnic.
This one's a little oblique. I mean, you really have to squint to catch the punchline, but it's there. The bit about the brownies was a good running gag, too.
Recommended If You Like Sexual Comedy
The Chosen One by Bombastic Bookpony
Sequel to Twilight the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Dark/Shipping
Pinkie just has a new way of seeing things.
I apparently wasn't too enamored with the first entry in this little series, but this one was pretty neat. Want to see an evil, twisted vampire version of Pinkie Pie? You won't get a climactic battle, but here you go!
Recommended for Vampire Fans
The Goat's Bells Ring by QueenMoriarty
Genre: Dark
Sombra hears bells ringing in the dark.
Oh boy. This is a good little fic, and I love how it could almost be canon, three years after it was written. I mean, no one actually expected Grogar to show up in G4, did they? How cool.
Recommended
Moonbeams and Gold Feathers by ObabScribbler
Genre: Saddish Romance
Gilda's night at the tavern does not go well.
Dang, there's a lot going on in this. A "mysterious" pony diplomat hanging out in a Griffonstone dive bar, Gilda working a steady job for the first time in her life, and the main focus, her going through a breakup. It was not cathartic, per se, but it was quite a satisfying scene to watch play out. Usually, you don't find stories written like this outside of lengthy adventures that pretend the show is more fantasy than it really is.
Recommended
Explode Twice by SirNotAppearingInThisFic
Genre: Comedy
The yaks start a space program.
I hate to say it, but this is a pitch-perfect rendering of the stupid yaks, and it is hilarious. Every step of their plan comes off as "so stupid, it just might work", and by golly, it does. To a point. This was also considerably more coherent than stories in this collection tend to be. I was enjoy!
Highly Recommended
Penultimate by GroaningGreyAgony
Sequel to Shard #9582
Genre: Friendship Is Optimal
This is an All the Myriad Worlds story, following up on the pony whose dream was to climb ever-higher and harsher mountains for all eternity. And what I particularly like about it is that it tackles a subject other FiO stories tend to miss: in the original story, eventually there is no more universe for CelestAI to consume to expand her simulation. Eventually, the universe will end, and then what? This doesn't go too far into answering the question, but really, I'm just pleased to see someone remembering it exists in the first place.
Recommended
The Stillness and Quiet by KwirkyJ
Genre: Light Shipping
Apple Bloom wanders Ponyville in the very early morning.
This was a nice atmospheric piece. I'm not sure there's much more to it, though Scootabloom shippers will like the ending.
Recommended
The Dress of a Lifetime by Pascoite
Genre: Sad
Wow, damn. This is really short flash fiction, but it comes right out and smacks you in the face with its implications!
Recommended
The Path Is Open by Abecedarian
Genre: Dark
I had a hard time following this, because our characters are 'Nightmare Moon' (in quote marks) and… someone else? I really don't know what was going on. The dialogue implied a whole lot of interesting stuff, at least.
Recommended as Light Reading
Poke by 2Merr
Mature
Genre: AiE Feghoot
Dammit dammit dammit. The pun here requires cross-linguistic talent, or at least an understanding of anime memes. I can't hate it, I just can't. (Not actually Mature, that's just the rating for the collection.)
Recommended for Laughs
Vernal Equine Talks by FanOfMostEverything
Genre: EQG
Being tiny, naked horses in magical naked horse land is definitely a good time to talk about romance.
This was everything I could ever want out of a post-Spring Breakdown story. And not just because it's Sci-Twi confronting Rarity over her possible feelings for Applejack, either.
Recommended
I couldn't ask for a better description.
Also, Lyra's backstory in my other short boils down to "She's a secret agent so secret, even she doesn't know it most of the time."
5090867
That's amazing.
And that's why CelestiAC is the superior princess-themed ultraintelligence.
5090929
Is that...
A Celestia air conditioner? c.c
5090949
It's a classic story, you should read it anyway and not just for the reference.
One day I hope to receive a “highly recommended” from PP :B
If one were to go to TrotCon, where would one fine PresentPerfect?
I freakin' hate bait-and-switch stories.
It wasn't a tragedy! It was a hymn to progress!
5090985
Nowhere until Saturday probably. :B
5091113
More like a hymn to corporatism and the death of small business! >:V
5090952
Ohhh, okay. I just didn't get the reference. :B
I thought it was clever at the time, but it sounds weird written out.
In short, Twilight's concerned that her growing magical power might cause her to be corrupted as Nightmare Moon was and so she's been limiting herself. In dreams "Magic" (itself, the Element of Harmony, or Twilight's perception of either, take your pick) shows up to talk to her.
5092334
Oh! O.o It was supposed to be Magic? Totally did not get that. c.c;