Wanderer D 5,510 followers · 65 stories

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117 weeks
SA: The Last Round

"So, what do you think, Corejo?" Wanderer D asked, politely showing off the stack of papers in his claw.
The burlap sack with the printed (in color!) face of Corejo remained silent.
"I see, yes, yes!" Wanderer D cackled. "Ahahaha! Yes! I agree! This story should do fine! So, who's reviewing it? RT?"
The sack that had the picture of RTStephens on it tilted just enough for a single potato to roll onto the table.
"And we have two! Alright, team, I expect you all to figure out who's doing the next one, okay? Let's not keep the readers waiting!" He glanced expectantly at the several sacks with pictures around him. "Alright! Dismissed."
"Sir?"
"Ah, intern. Is that my coffee?" Wanderer D took the proffered mug and downed the contents in one go. "Excellent! No time to rest! We have to edit what the guys just handed to me."
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110 comments · 8,879 views
138 weeks
SA: Round 186

Seattle's Angels is a group that promotes good stories with low views. You can find us here.
The Dodge Junction train ramp was not where Floydien expected to be part of a reunion.
He especially didn’t expect it to happen four times in a row.
“Wait, Winter? What are you doing here?”
Winter’s eyebrows raised. “On Summer vacation. What about you?”
“Uh, same.”
“Guys!”
The two Angels looked to where the voice came from. Cynewulf came running up to them, a wide brimmed sunhat and sunglasses adorning her head. “Fancy meeting you two here!”
Floydien scratched his head. “Same. Are you on vacation too?”
“Yep! Had a blast down on the Horseshoe Bay coast.”
“Well, ain’t this something!”
All turned to the fourth voice. Knight strode up, his body decked out in fishing gear, complete with a fishing pole balanced over his shoulder. “Haven’t seen so many of us in one spot since vacation started.”
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12 comments · 4,667 views
153 weeks
SA: Round 185

Seattle's Angels is a group that promotes good stories with low views. You can find us here.
Winter and Knight stared out at the bleak townscape. All around them, the fires raged unchecked as Ponyville's former occupants stumbled mindlessly about, their undead faces ravaged by rot and decay as they moaned for sustenance. Knight turned to Winter.
"Ready to go?"
Winter nodded and shifted a backpack. "Got everything with me. I guess it's now or never."
Knight gave a wry smile. "That's the spirit. You do have your reviews, right?"
"Of course!" he said, patting his chest. "Right here."
Knight nodded and said, "Alright, here's the plan: we stick to the shadows as much as possible. From what I can tell, their eyesight isn't that good, but their sense of smell is excellent. We just have to stay upwind."
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10 comments · 4,281 views
160 weeks
SA: Round 184

Seattle's Angels is a group that promotes good stories with low views. You can find us here.
“I see. Alright, I’ll let him know.”
Intern twisted a dial on the small mechanical piece attached to his ear, retracting a blue, see-through visor from across his face. He turned to Floydien, crossing his arms. “It’s confirmed. Generation 5 is on its way. Season 2 of Pony Life is just around the corner. And the series finale of Equestria Girls was scrapped for a holiday special.”
Floydien lifted an eyebrow. “And, what does that mean for us?”
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10 comments · 4,440 views
164 weeks
SA: Round 183

Seattle's Angels is a group that promotes good stories with low views. You can find us here.
Over their heads the flak guns peppered the sky. The planes roared and sputtered. The clouds were dark, heavy with the child that was war. It was all noise.

Cynewulf looked around the bend. “You know, I’ve been reading old fics. Remember Arrow 18?”

Floydien slipped—a Floydien slipped—One Floydien came through the fractured time in the lower levels of the Sprawling Complex. “Uh, human in Equestria?”

“Yeah. You know, we were probably too mean about those.”

“They were terrible. I mean some of them. I guess a lot of everything is terrible.”

“Well, yes. But anyway, I was reading it, and it occurred to me that what I liked about it was that it felt optimistic in the way that Star Trek was optimistic. It felt naive, but in a way one wanted to emulate. To regress back into it.”

“Uh, that sounds nice?”
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7 comments · 5,941 views
169 weeks
SA: Round 182

Seattle's Angels is a group that promotes good stories with low views. You can find us here.
“Okay, Winter, hit it!”
Winter pulled a lever that ignited a rocket placed underneath the communal Christmas Tree. The tree blasted through a cylindrical hole and out into the skies beyond. It only took seconds for the tree to become a tiny red dot against the blue sky.
Winter stepped away from the control panel and down to where Intern was standing behind a fifty-five millimeter thick glass wall. “We could have just picked up the base and tossed it in the garbage bin outside, you know.”
Intern scoffed. “Yeah, we could, or we can go over the top in a comedic and entertaining manner that leads into our reviews.”
“You’re getting all meta, now.”
“Exactly! On to the reviews!”
ROUND 182
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6 comments · 7,967 views
174 weeks
SA: Round 181

Seattle's Angels is a group that promotes good stories with low views. You can find us here.
For the first time in the year that he worked there, FanficFan finally experienced quiet in the Seattle’s Angels Compound. All the other reviewers had gone home for the holidays, leaving him and Intern to submit the last round of reviews of the year. However, with Intern off on an errand, FanficFan was left alone.
With stories ready to be read by his partner, all the reviewer could really do was wander around the empty building, taking in all the holiday decorations left behind from the Office Christmas Party a few days prior, like office space holiday knick-knacks, lights strown about the ceiling and wreaths on nearly every door. Plus, there was some leftover cookies and egg nog, so that was nice.
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8 comments · 6,381 views
178 weeks
SA: Round 180

Seattle's Angels is a group that promotes good stories with low views. You can find us here.
Cynewulf lay in a grassy field. This was a curious occurrence, as the Seattle Angel’s Dyson Sphere-esque compound basement labyrinth did not usually have grass.

But like she had many times before, she’d been teleported here, and whether or not the sky above her was real or not, she didn’t mind. The grass was nice, and the wind was nice, and whatever happened happened.
f
There was a great crash and Corejo stumbled into the grass to her right.
“Oh, god, are we out? How did—”
“No clue. I suspect that it’ll just take us back anyhow. Did you have the reviews? The machine came for me a few days ago, so I’ve got mine.”

“I… Uh, I was late. I mean, we both are, unless you’ve been here for days.”
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9 comments · 8,139 views
182 weeks
SA: Round 179

Seattle's Angels is a group that promotes good stories with low views. You can find us here.
Winter peered cautiously out the corner of the broken window, surveying the damage outside. He turned to his companion.
"Looks like we're trapped in here," he said quietly.
Intern grunted and adjusted the bandage on his arm. "Nothing we haven't gone through before." He looked up at Winter. "Got your reviews?"
Winter nodded and patted his chest pocket. "Right here, where they're safe." He turned and looked once more out the window. "Now, it's simply a matter of getting through all those ponies." Winter shuddered as he took in the horrors before him.
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10 comments · 5,238 views
185 weeks
SA: Round 178

Seattle's Angels is a group that promotes good stories with low views. You can find us here.
Matthew stumbled through the basement, crouching low to avoid all the pipes on the ceiling. Floydien hadn’t told him much, just that it was extremely important, had nothing to do with Intern, and to take the last fire door on the left.
After what seemed like eternity in an instant, Matthew finally came to said fire door, damp with sweat and condensation. He carefully undid the latch and opened it with one arm raised just in case of any traps. Only to be greeted with the sounds of maniacal but joyous laughter as he spotted Floydien sitting in the center of the room surrounded by thousands of stacks of papers.
“I found it!” Floydien said, tossing a stapled pack of papers to Matthew. “I finally found the answer. The answer to all of our questions. To our very existence!”
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4 comments · 4,541 views

Aug

27th

2019

Story Reviews » SA: Round 157 · 1:54am Aug 27th, 2019

Seattle's Angels is a group that promotes good stories with low views. You can find us here.

Matthew walked into Corejo’s ~~broom closet~~ office. “Hey Cor, all my reviews are done, we just need yours and an intro/outro and we should be good.”

Corejo looked up from his ~~chalkboard~~ computer. “Just got one left, but all my others are done. I’ll hand ‘em in once it’s done.”

“Alright, cool. Any ideas for the intro stuff?”

“Not really.” Corejo shrugged. “Unless you wanna transcribe this conversation. People will think it’s funny. Until they’re like, ‘you’re not funny.’ And then we’ll be had.”

ROUND 157

STORY 1
The World Fades to White, by RB_

Princess Flurry Heart and the descendant of Prince Rutherford brave the harsh conditions of the Frozen North, in search of an artifact they hope will save their home from a similar fate.

Corejo:

And we’re off to a great start to this round’s batch of fics with a subtle worldbuilding story by RB_.

I love how this one comes together. It’s a short piece about a grown-up Flurry Heart, accompanied by the descendent of Prince Rutherford, X years in the future as they brave an unnatural snowstorm far beyond the boundaries any sane pony has a reason to go. But therein lies purpose, and with it, curiosity: Why are they out here? What are they looking for?

How little there is to this story is really what sells it for me. There’s no lack of imagery and description to go around here, but the world itself is drip fed to us throughout the fic in a way that will have you wanting that next drop like a man in the desert upending the last of his canteen.

I didn’t feel a strict sense of danger, as I think RB_ might have been intending to inject, but there’s certainly a prevailing sense of impending doom just over the horizon, and honestly I think that works in the story’s favor, given all we’re presented about the world. It gives the ending some heft, and it left me stewing longer than I usually do after finishing a story as brief as this.

Matthewl419:

This story is a wonderful example of the power of imagery. RB_ did a really wonderful job giving us both a solid picture and a pure feeling for what our adventures are walking through. Cold, snowing, and devoid of life, Flurry and Rutherford go on a last-ditch effort to stave off the cold and save their home.

It’s the last-ditch effort part of it that is most important to understand. They’ve all but lost hope, don’t even know if their plan will work, or even if they’ll survive the attempt. Yet there is still a glimmer of hope. And it’s on that tiny glimmer that comes the bucketload of emotions which make this story so great.

STORY 2
Ghost of a Rose, by Noble Thought

The world around Roseluck is slipping away piece by piece. Color drains away, fear creeps in, and an empty town hides a secret she is afraid to face.

When all that remains are memories of family, friends, and fleeting moments, a friend tries to help her hold onto them before they fade away.

Before she fades away.

Corejo:

And slot number two goes to the long-form fic of the round! I gotta say, this one caught me by surprise, and given it was written by Noble Thought, I knew going in there'd be some level of interest for me, despite it being an older work.

I have to admit, it started off a little rocky for me. I've never been a fan of early-story reveals like we see in chapter one (I'm hesitant to spoil even the inciting incident, given the nature of the story), but it’s less about that reveal than it is what Noble Thought makes of it. And goddamn, it’s nothing short of a spellbinding journey through a lifetime of memories—some happy, some sad—and, simply put, life being life.

There’s more to this story than you’ll first expect, and what happens further in is nothing short of spectacular. Don’t pass this one up.

Matthewl419:

Man, I had no idea what I was getting into when I started this. Really, I must applaud the author for their subversion of my expectations.

A story filled with bitter-sweet moments and emotion, a story about a forgotten love and life and the struggle to remember, a story about the harsh realities of happy endings. It’s… almost tragic, in a way, yet a happy tragic. There’s also just a hint of mandatory tearing up because it’s a good ending, just not the one you so desperately hoped for.

I will warn, though, that Noble Thought plays the long game with this story, so if anything is confusing just hold out for a little bit and it will work out.

STORY 3
Now Hiring, by miss-cyan

Pear Butter and Bright McIntosh have recently passed. What remains of the Apple Family find themselves in the care of their newest family member. But they can't do everything to provide for the new foal on their own.

An ad is placed.

A position is filled.

But loss is a thing that affects each individual differently. And new faces can be both a curse and a blessing.

Corejo:

What kind of reviewers would we be if we only had one fic in the feels department for you? Enter Now Hiring, a story about love and loss, and how shared tragedy can become its own form of healing.

This really is a beautiful story. From the fated tragedies to the bonds forged, there isn't much room for a callous heart to squirm through unsoftened by this one. It hurts in all the right ways you expect (and one or two you probably won't!), with very little said by way of in-scene action.

I think the story would have done better as a longer multi-chapter story to really entrench itself in the atmosphere it provides, but it still succeeds within its own wordcount. If anything, it highlights how strongly emotion is tied to even the littlest things.

Also, Apple Bloom is just so goddamn adorable. Fight me.

Matthewl419:

“That’s heavy, doc.” -Corejo, probably…

But seriously though, there is so much raw emotion in this story, so much hurt and pain, and yet so much healing. This is a story about mourning and family. This is a story I can’t find the words to praise, and this is a story you should absolutely read.

STORY 4
I Will Pass This Way Again, by Ruirik

Years have come and gone, yet through all of it, six friends have remained close. From the far flung corners of the world they come together each year to visit, and reinforce that eternal bond of friendship.

Let a light shine in your window
Let me see where I have been
And if that light still shines
And if fortune smiles
I will pass this way again
I will pass this way again

Corejo:

I was not prepared for these feels. Goddamn, this one hurt.

This is a story about the Student Six and their annual school reunion, long after the events of the show. It’s a story about time. It’s a story about inevitability. It’s a story about life.

The thing I love most about I Will Pass This Way Again is actually the exact same thing I would have rather seen avoided in Now Hiring: there’s so little on paper here that it dredges deep into the realm of tell rather than show. But I’ll be the first to tell you that old adage “show don’t tell” is crap if the tell is done right, and this is a prime example.

Like in Now Hiring, there’s a singular focus on mood over all else—be it atmosphere, action, or character development (and I mean this last one in a positive sense. Bear with me!). Rather than take what we know and build something new out of it, this story instead takes us by the hand and shows us what we already know, but within the framework of a few decades down the road, and in doing so shows us something new and exciting and heartbreaking. It shows us life and all that comes with it, and it’s both beautiful and painful.

Goddamnit, this story.

Matthewl419:

It’s really hard for me to know what to say about this. I have little experience in what this story is about. But I think Ruirik did a great job of it. Short and to the point, there’s not much more that could be said in it. In fact, I believe any longer and it would not have been as impactful. I think it’ greatest merit for me is that if you allow yourself time to think about it, it’s very eye-opening about some of the quirks in the student six’s friendship not often considered.