Hap Reviews: Contest Entries 7 · 11:58pm Jul 19th, 2020

Howdy howdy. I've been wanting to review/recommend some stories from the right back at it again shipping contest, because as usual I only ever exit my tiny corner of TWG to go, sneak out and enter in competitions before slinking back into my lair, and as a few of you probably know, I like reviewing and recommending (if I can) stories that turn up there, because contests are fun and I think that it's good to spotlight some of the entries.

This time around though I've, frankly, been too exhausted to get into it very well. I was worried I wouldn't have the energy to review some before the results came around due to quarantine (I basically feel tired all the time, despite mostly being indoors other than when I force myself to get exercise outside). I tried to muster up the energy to get through at least one, though, and here are three!

The Best for the Best, by MissieTheAngle

This story is a straightforward SoL about two ponies trying to go on a first date. I can imagine many enjoying the relaxed, laid-back slice of life fluff that the story presents, but I would have liked for the story to go a bit more under the surface and present some more meat for me to sink my teeth into. The story is thankfully short, however, which I generally see as a bonus, and in this instance it helps the story due to its lack of significant conflict.

A draw, I think, for this type of story are the characters and concept, since the conflict is practically nonexistent (it's there, but ultimately there is no difficulty in it being resolved). Most of the characters are fairly superficially portrayed in my opinion, and didn't really provide any surprises to me. In a sense I felt like the characters were kind of going through the motions, saying the things they would be expected even by a non-fan to say. It's pretty saccharine, but harmless. Similarly, the concept wasn't much to get excited about.

I've probably read far too many slice of life stories of this kind to be excited by it, but I do confess that I find the relaxed, stress free nature of the story to be somewhat charming in of itself. It's nice, frankly, but I do wish it had done more to make itself more memorable, either by working the characters in a more interesting and innovative way or by doing something more noteworthy with the simplistic concept. There's some stuff that could be cleaned up a bit but nothing I found too egregious.

Who would enjoy this? Probably anyone looking for a relaxing slice of life will be happy with this one. There's nothing wrong with wanting a relaxing, fluff read, and if you happen to be in the market, consider checking this one out if you like PinkieDash.

Fall Formal Goes On, by Camaleao

Hey hey, it's AppleDash. This one is the author's second story, and whilst it is a bit rough (fix thy paragraphs!) it's got more depth to it than I initially expected. The long night-time conversation format'll do that for a story. The story is set up as being pretty much a party combined with after-party, so despite starting with dancing mellows out pretty quickly. For the most part the story is Rainbow and Applejack talking.

Like the previous story I've reviewed here, there really isn't any conflict, and it's a bit longer. Despite being a bit awkward and stilted in places, the dialogue progressed fairly naturally, so reading it wasn't a chore. I think it would have been nice to see the romantic feelings build up throughout the story more organically, though, instead of just bring them up as a past event to be inserted into the dialogue.

The story is less saccharine and tries to be more introspective, but is probably a bit too awkward and uncomfortable to really pull it off. It does touch on topics that could be interesting, though, such as Applejack reacting to being seen as a dumb country-girl, and their characterisation is a bit more multidimensional than I had anticipated going in. It implies and references more than directly addresses, which feels a bit natural considering the story premise but also could probably do with having a bit more meat to it. There is a bit of drama though, which I found nice to see!

Who would enjoy this? I think if you were looking for a slower, dialogue heavy short, you could probably do worse than this one. You may have to put up with a bit of stilted dialogue and awkward paragraphing, though.

A Little Light Reading, by Undome Tinwe

I really like the presentation of this one. It's super short (I read it when my energy levels were super-duper low and couldn't really handle a longer story), but manages to span a fair bit of content in just over 1K words, which I think is impressive. It does this by inferring and implying events that happen, which is a neat trick that goes a long way here.

Each section is barely a few paragraphs, but it is a highly efficient story that really uses its format to its advantage. The characters are okay (Rarity especially is pretty good). I think the lack of shown content worked a bit against Twilight, since other than being in a book-related story, she doesn't get much chance to show off her character. Again this is something that's implied through her book choices, but for me at least I'd have liked to have seen it myself.

Who would enjoy this? Given its length and how tight if presents itself, though, it's hard not to at least recommend folks take a look. It's 1K words; if you don't like it, well, how much time have you lost? This story is about Rarity and Twilight in a fairly grounded setting, told through snippets of their life, and if that sounds like your bag you'll probably enjoy that 1K words too.

That's all from me today. I've got more work to do during the week, so I'll be lucky if I get to go through more of these, but you never know what happens! I'd definitely recommend folks check out the other entries, though. There's 42 of them apparently, and if you like shipping, I'm sure at least one of them will take your fancy.

Cheerio! Stay safe, folks.