Fic recs, December 29th: BigAsh edition! · 7:31pm Dec 29th, 2020
VisualPony has done a reading of TheOnly's Sweetie Belle Finds Out Where Babies Are Made!
Scribbler's newest reading is KwirkyJ's minific Grounded, with Clever Hooves!
New readers! I'm skipping over A Furball, because his channel has four videos, all of which are clopfics I do not want to read! So instead, we're checking out BigAsh! Once quite prolific, more recently doing Let's Plays, active as of six months ago. And let me just say, by the time he stopped doing readings? He was actually pretty good. So long as he was putting in the effort to edit his readings, they were great! Plus, hearing where he starts at, and listening as he slowly gains control over his stutter, I felt really great for him. I've always said fic reading would be a great help for people wrestling with speech impediments!
But those first few years? Oh boy, they're hard to get through. I in fact had not expected to finish this blog this year, but then I quit out of the final reading. Anyway, that's why this would have been much later than it actually ended up being. Which means I got one last milestone in for 2020! The List:
Alaborn's Applejack's Bar
palelordhiphis's Discord at Death's Bed - Goodbye, Fluttershy
Airstream's Minuette's Lesson
PhantomFox's Sunny Skies All Day Long
The Grimm Reaper's The Darkness of Love (part 1)
Foxy Kimchi's March to the Scaffold (part 1)
Moabite's A Candle to the Sun
Pen Stroke's Past Sins (part 1)
TwilightFlopple's The Celestial Mechanics in Midsummer
Drakkith's How to Preen Your Chicken
Alpha Scorpii's Her Brother Doesn't Talk Much
PoweredByTea's Never So Far Away and The Wrong Fork
ambion's Melt and Drip
Just Horsing Around's Shedding Anxiety
Between Lines' TWILIGHT SPARKLE FIXES EVERYTHING
Kickass222urmom's Pinkie Learns a New Word
Pascoite's Teacher's Pet
Shotoman's Spike's Hoard
totallynotabrony's The Treaty
Cold in Gardez's Small-town Charm
theRedBrony's That One Passenger
Pastel Pony's Numbers
Georg's The One Who Got Away
Abramus5250's Rescue
River Babble's Luna's Throne
billymorph's A Curious Case of Immortality
SecretAgentPlotTwist's Mortem: The Last Necromancer
Pineta's The Brightest and the Best
Told you that list was gonna get unwieldy eventually! :B
H: 5 R: 5 C: 7 V: 1 N: 3
The Three Sisters: Extended Family by Wanderer D
Reading (part 1)
Sequel to What If: Rarity from The Three Sisters Met With Chrysalis
Genre: Adventure/Changeling Fic
The arrival of a changeling in Ponyville upsets Rarity's carefully crafted, peaceful life.
Going into this, I had vague recollections of the previous Three Sisters stories, and so I kind of struggled keeping up with what was going on. That's clearly a 'me' problem; the acutal story problems were few, but they do exist. I think the most damning thing I can say about this is that it took me until about the halfway mark to realize there was a Comedy tag. There were just these weird threads, like changelings referring to Celestia as a queen and being corrected "Princess", that I just didn't realize were supposed to be running gags. Other more obvious running gags, like how fruit bats are really tasty, I just found more annoying than anything. There was comedy in here, for sure, but the jokes that landed the strongest were few and far between. Beyond that, I think the biggest problem is that we're introduced to four new characters (or was it five? See, this is the problem) all at once, and never given the barest hint of who they are. Their personalities don't differ noticeably, apart from the one who's also physically separate from the others for the entire story, and thus easy to keep track of regardless. Said other character — these are all Chrysalis's daughters, fyi — is also weirdly shoved into a ship with Spike? That just struck me as a strange decision. Also in the realm of strange decisions is D's constant reminders that he used no proofreaders or editors for the entire story. Like, okay, that's a thing, and it does show, but why? In the end, this was an alright story, with a lot of changeling politics and headcanon, and Sweetie Belle taking to the idea of being Chrysalis's adoptive sister oddly easily. But it also feels like a massive moving of parts, just trying to line things up so we can get from What If to the next story. (And nowhere does this show more than the 'April Fools' chapter, which is a Sweetie Chronicles crossover.) So, yeah, I really don't know what my takeaway on the series has been so far, but this was honestly okay despite its flaws.
Recommended for Changeling Fans
Ascend by xTSGx
Reading (part 1)
Review #6900!
Genre: Governmental Drama?
Twilight's suddenly become an alicorn. Nothing to worry about, right?
This bills itself as a comedy, but I disagree. Oh sure, there's some solid laughs to be had, and quite a lot of attempts at humor, but far too often, this devolves into characters standing around complaining about the government. The author clearly has an ax to grind, naming MPs after various byzantine legal terms and so forth. And it's not any particular aspect of government that seems to have him so upset, more that it exists in the first place. So that was majorly distracting, not to mention dull. As for the rest of this, well, the first third or so is a lengthy "Twilight wakes up as an alicorn, freaks out, and tries to hide it from everyone while ignoring Spike's mature and sage advice" joke that gets old quickly. A lot of the rest is meetings with courts, parliaments, committees, you name it, and that's legitimately boring. On top of that is a heaping helping of LUS and POV shifts. Good character work maybe, beyond flogging a Twilight freakout for laughs and Rarity's transparent gold-digging, but I didn't enjoy a lot of this. I read the whole thing, granted, but I can't say I'm interested in continuing on with the sequels, good hook or not. At least they're both dead in the water, so I don't have to worry about what I'm missing.
Recommended Only If You Wanted Twilicorn to Go a Different Way
My Little Wasteland by ThatBronyWithTheClipOns
Reading (part 1)
Genre: Grimdark AU
After Twilight accidentally destroyed Equestria, Spike vowed to help keep her safe.
There's a vague chance this story's setup had some potential, but whatever was there was definitely squandered. Like the reader himself opined, you'd think that it would take a good bit less than ten years for Spike to try and figure out how to survive in a lawless wasteland. The writing is fairly poor, the infodumpy prologue in particular being a complete waste since a character introduced in chapter 1 explains the situation to us anyway. And then chapter 2 is called "Training and Info on Everypony's Whereabouts", so you can guess how flat the second half of it was. I clocked out at the ridiculous grimdark nicknames for the Apples. Something's really wrong if I'm wishing I was reading Fallout: Equestria instead.
DNF: 3/19
The Syndicate by Bok
Reading (part 1)
Genre: Comedy
Equestria's top crime family isn't made of ponies…
Nothing quite like a 'secret lives of animals' story that makes you think maybe you should keep a closer eye on your pets. :) This was fun from start to finish, a comedy whose main joke is "who fits each role", and which cleverly set up each subsequent chapter in the one preceding. And even though you know who's left by the final chapter, it still has one last surprise in store! An oldie, but a goodie.
Recommended
In Love and War by The Fool
Reading (part 1)
Genre: War/Changeling Fic
The Queen's death brings free thought to the hive, and a power vacuum to be filled by those used to it.
Even prior to season 9, it's a tall order to truly frame Chrysalis as a caring 'mother' to her hive after what she did. This story attempts it, with some of the most convoluted storytelling I have ever witnessed, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. I was unimpressed by the shallow pony-side world-building, them using real-world swears and Twilight wondering if she's died and gone to Hell. But moreover, this is a story where Celestia decides to let Shining Armor assassinate the new leader of the changelings and justifies herself to Twilight in the most inanely juvenile way possible. That poor characterization is what threw me from this story, not to mention Spike committing treason immediately thereafter. I'm not sure if this story thinks war is the solution to the situation at hand — confusion which stems from introducing the antagonist first — but I wasn't willing to stick around and find out.
DNF: 3/8
Guiding Light by archonix
Reading (part 1)
Genre: Drama/Future Fic
The royal family have disappeared, leaving Equestria in the hooves of the only mare available to take over: Derpy Hooves.
It's funny: this same setup could have been used for a comedy. Princess Derpy destroys the castle, get a few "my bad"s in there, finish on "I just don't know what went wrong!" Big laughs, quickly forgotten. And while there are one or two funny scenes, this is a story instead about what Derpy loses when she finds herself suddenly elevated to alicornhood and in charge of Equestria. It's quite poignant, and has a lot of interesting ideas about alicorns as well, not to mention solid characterization for Twilight. Missteps are few and far between. I found Sparkler's antagonism of Twilight grating after a while, and I kept having to remind myself that she was suffering just as much as anyone and simply not dealing with it well. Also, don't expect a resolution to the question of where the royals went; answering that is clearly not the purpose of this story, for all that there is something of an answer near the end. Mostly, this is just a piece about the importance of love, the sort of fic someone could only write with a great deal of love for a character. I liked it.
Recommended
The Irony of Applejack by Mister Friendly
Reading (part 1)
Genre: Changeling Fic/Adventure
Applejack had never had anything to worry about. Then changelings invaded during the wedding…
Way back before Would It Matter If I Was?, there was… Well, there was Who We Are. But there was also The Irony of Applejack, a fic I've been waiting quite a long time to read, and let me say, the wait was worth it. :) While I do wish the first chapter wasn't so coy about the story's central conceit — the cover art is right there, we get it — nevertheless, it came as a surprise that Applejack isn't just a changeling, she's that changeling. And you know what that means. And if you don't, read this!
This story covers so much ground, I don't think I can do it good justice with a simple short review. Character growth for Applejack is a central point, and I got the sense the author really likes her as a character and wanted her to be written better in the show, not the least reason for which is that Big Mac gets a scene to be awesome and epic. Well, honestly, everyone does at some point; though the focus is on AJ all the way through, all her friends are recognized by the author as being awesome, epic ponies with super powers, and they all get a chance to show off during the long conflict that takes up the middle third or so of the story.
And what a conflict it is! If this does anything right, it's changeling-based world-building. I realized a few chapters in that Applejack was basically doing nothing but learning second-hand about changeling political intrigue, just as we the readers were, and it was really awesome. Seriously, all the changeling stuff in this piece is thoroughly engrossing, I loved every minute of it. We've also got an excellent villain in Vigil, a would-be royal changeling investigator who is, of course, a changeling himself (spoilers), a no-nonsense military leader who is incensed by failure and just can't understand why one of his kind might choose to live with ponies. The other major OC character is Hyacinth, and the less said about her, the better, save that I was really invested in her getting a proper resolution at the end, and it was extremely satisfying to see that resolution take place in more or less the exact way I'd wanted it. :D
One interesting thing about this story is that I got some major AppleDash vibes… and yet there's no shipping. The sequel has a Romance tag, so I have to imagine that was intentional, to set it up. If so, I am very impressed, no one ever does that. All the canon characters are written really well (for the gap between S2 and S3, mind), and it's clear that Rainbow's protectiveness about AJ has a little more than just "best friends" behind it.
So let's talk what didn't work. The writing has some issues: LUS, constant POV shifts, and close repetition. And I don't just mean repeating words close to one another, but frequently reiterating what's just been explained. There's a certain amount of pedantry that must be dealt with, in other words.
I was turned off in the early chapters by the idea of Celestia forcing ponies to carry ID cards with them, to be demanded on sight by royal guards. This exists basically for no other reason than to get Rainbow Dash in trouble for about three chapters, after which it stops being an issue, but seriously. That right there explains why it's such a bad idea: she flies everywhere and doesn't wear clothes or carry saddlebags. It's very much an unreasonable imposition on the populace, and of course I disliked how it suggests Celestia is moving toward authoritarianism, even temporarily.
Something that doesn't belong anywhere really: there was this weird motif of changelings disguised as royal guards melting their armor when they transformed. And like… it's cool and all. But even the reader picked up on the fact that, just because they're immune to their own magical flames, it doesn't mean changelings are fireproof, and molten metal is going to be burning the hell out of them. And yet it happens over and over again. (Sidenote: Listening to Big Ash struggle through this story turned reading it into a chore. I switched to TTS about halfway through and probably finished it at least a day sooner.)
The last thing to talk about is pacing, just in two areas. First, humor wasn't always used well. There's a scene that sticks out in my mind, the one I mentioned earlier where Big Mac gets to be a badass. It involves him stomping the crap out of a hulking changeling bruiser. And then we go to another scene for a while, only to come back and see that, yup, that's still going on. Hey, guys, this is still funny, right? There were a few other scenes that went on too long like that. And then there's the story itself, because this is one of those pieces where you get the awesome, pulse-pounding, epic climactic battle where the villain is finally defeated! ...And then we have to go clean up his goons, oops, oh well, Applejack gets an awesome, epic, climactic moment of personal growth! ...And then there's not one, but two epilogues, the first of which is the longest chapter in the story. It just doesn't end, is my point, for all that those epilogues are in no way bad.
That's a lot of bad stuff compared to the good stuff, but that's only because I didn't take any notes on the good stuff, like a dummy. :B Suffice to say, despite its flaws, this story is absolutely worth your time if you haven't read it already. It's one of the best changeling fics I've ever read, and I hope I can get to the sequels someday.
Highly Recommended
Let Them Eat Cake by Ogopogo
Reading
Genre: Character Piece
Every pony has their vices, even Princess Celestia.
It's like the Cakelestia story to end all Cakelestia stories. I really can't say I've ever read a fic where Celestia monologues about the significance of major cake events in her life. And quite frankly, that was all I needed.
Recommended
When They Were Young: Chrysalis' First Nightmare Night by Mr101
Reading
Genre: Cute Comedy
Princess Chrysalis wants nothing more than to go trick-or-treating on Nightmare Night.
Look at that cover art. There was no way I was not going to like this story. :D I'm a sucker for foals being adorable, number one, but when it's a character like Chrysalis, who not only do I adore, but who also tends not to be associated with wholesome adorableness, the fact that little in this story is likely to surprise you matters not. It's just great to watch her be excited about candy. There's also her chaperone, Obsidian, a retired changeling military commander, who works as a perfect foil for her. I could have read a significantly longer story with this premise and enjoyed it just as much. :) Also, now I want an Addams Family-style sitcom with this changeling family.
Highly Recommended
Dinky's Favorite Story by Derpy Fan 4eva
Reading
Genre: Children's Story
Derpy reads her daughter the tale of a baker and the gift he made for the princesses.
So this is touted as a ponified children's story, one I've never heard of let alone read, so I can't speak to how well or thoroughly that's been done. What I can say is that it might just explain why Celestia is portrayed so tyrannically in the inner story. I can't imagine an actual Equestrian foals' story where she acts this way. But where the inner story may leave something to be desired (as one of the peanut gallery in the reading said, it'd be better as a cutie mark story), its effect on the outer story was unexpectedly heartwarming and makes the whole thing worth reading. So I guess I've got another small group of shortfics on my list now. :B
Recommended for Derpy Fans
The Epic Battle of Good Versus Slightly Less Good but Still Pretty Good in the Long Run by Akumokagetsu
Reading
Genre: Sister Shenanigans
Celestia and Luna battle in the castle.
There's not much to this, being rather fluffy as it is, but it's short, cute and amusing. I'd be lying if I said this wasn't the kind of thing I'd always been hoping to see for a Royal Sisters episode. A shame it's not on Fimfic still. (This is the second deleted story I've read for this blog, and the first one wasn't even on Fimfetch!)
Recommended for Fans of Best Sisters
Twilight DONE! by Aragon
Reading
Sequel to Daring DONE!
Genre: Epistolary Comedy
With the other princesses busy at a "special summit", it's up to Twilight Sparkle to rule Equestria for a week.
If you haven't read the prequel, you should. And then you should read this, because you will like it for the same reasons. Twilight's parents have terrible priorities, the other princesses do too, Twilight's friends accidentally start attacking the castle, and the Royal Guard are as useless as always. Perfect time to be trying to rule a nation! :D
Highly Recommended
History Forgets by Rainedash
Reading
Genre: Anti-Immortality Angst
Long life brings with it many losses, and many joys.
Where's this been all my life? :D This story is about exactly what I've always thought: outliving everyone you know and love isn't unique to being immortal, and if you're not immortal, just think of all the neat things you'll miss out on! The story deftly demonstrates this by pairing up an alicorn Twilight alongside an ailing, elderly Scootaloo as they reminisce about the past. Also, there's an irascible little filly whose presence was a complete joy. :D The funny thing is, this could almost be present-day canon, save that it's clear it was written far closer to Twilight becoming an alicorn than a princess, so the future doesn't feel quite right. I might be overselling it a bit, I just thought this was a breath of fresh air, and if nothing else? It's written well!
Highly Recommended
The Magic of Orphan Cookies by eLLen
Reading
Reading by The Brony Chronicler
Genre: Slice of Life
Scootaloo brings a box of cookies to school.
The whole time I was listening to this, I was wondering where the Comedy tag was. Well, it's obvious why there isn't one: this doesn't build to a punchline. It's still very funny, but a lot of the humor was also in my head. It seems Scootaloo has an ulterior motive, after all. Is she going to tell everyone the cookies are made of orphans? Are they actually? Well, no, and the real reason was as surprising as it was heartwarming. The lack of 'true' comedy does nothing to detract from this piece, which could easily have come from an episode.
Recommended
Better Safe Than Sorry by Jay David
Reading
Genre: Random Comedy
Spike thinks the castle's defenses need an upgrade.
I like the central joke here, the meta observation about the frequency of villain attacks. That was funny, but it also doesn't really go anywhere? The fortifications joke was eh in comparison, and the punchline of course has been done to death. It's not too bad, but it's clearly not more than the initial idea the author had.
Recommended for Laugh
When They Were Young: The Birds and the Bees by Mr101
Reading
Genre: AU/Comedy
After hearing some older colts talking, Discord brings a big question to his parents.
Straight up, I have to say I liked this far less than the Chrysalis story. I will chalk that up to personal bias in terms of which character I like more, but also because "kid asks his parents about sex" is nowhere near as inherently cute or funny as "kid goes trick-or-treating for the first time", especially when played this straight. Seriously, he even gets the "special hugs and then a baby in a basket" explanation! The story tries to play it for laughs, but they weren't huge, and I had really had more questions than anything. Like what kind of world is this where Discord would be known as "that draconequus kid", rare, but otherwise unremarkable? I guess that's what the "Youngverse" AU is about? But also, why use the name of Rule 63 Discord for his mom? That's just weird. c.c And, somehow most jarring, why isn't his toy actually alive? I figured from the first scene that Dorian had been animated via magic, either by Discord or one of his parents. But when he's talking to the older kids, it's clear the toy is only alive in his imagination. Why? He's Discord! He brings things to life all the time! At least I can say I was pleased that the kids weren't resoundingly mean to him. Still, like I said, didn't enjoy it as much as the other one.
Recommended for Discord Fans Only
A Talk With a Prince by Jay David
Reading
Genre: Episode Followup
Shining Armor has a few very important questions for Thorax.
This went pretty much exactly how I thought it would. No real surprises, just Shining being alternately threatening and understanding towards the newly-reformed Thorax, like you might expect. And I'd say it was nice someone wrote this, but you can look down the Also Liked bar to see at least one story that's doing exactly the same thing. So, well, this is a story I read.
Vaguely Recommended
The seamstress and the Arachnid. by Mr101
Reading
Genre: Comedy
Rarity has an uninvited guest.
I am of two minds about this story. On the one hand, it's mainly a one-joke fic whose broad strokes are easy to anticipate, and it has a tendency to make over-the-top jokes that just don't work. I mean, either I'm not one for comedic exaggeration, or it's just really hard to pull off. On the other hand, the escalation is paced well, the ending reveal is unexpectedly hilarious, and there's a build-up to a referential joke that I actually enjoyed for once in my life. Plus, I'm inclined to be kind to a story working against the insidious pro-arachnid propaganda that infiltrated the last few seasons of the show. So the journey may be a little rocky, but it might be worth it?
Recommended for Laughs
The Coronation by Between Lines
Reading
Genre: Comedy
Princess Sunset Shimmer's coronation party did not exactly go as planned.
This was great from start to finish. :D It's one of those comedies where everything's already happened, or is currently happening offscreen, and you've just got two characters commiserating over it. They frequently don't finish their own sentences, because they're so on the wavelength. And of course, there's plenty of tantalizing EQG-meets-pony action, which is the fuel for all the hilarity. :D
Highly Recommended
Your Money or Your Life by Gulheru
Reading
Genre: Comedy
Princess Cadence runs afoul of a strangely professional highwaypony.
This suffers a bit solely from having been read in proximity to the last story. Hard act to follow and all. And to be fair, it's not a laugh-out-loud, joke-a-minute kind of piece (also I question the use of the word 'formula'). But it does have a very surreal charm that makes it consistently amusing. It all comes down to this really unique OC, who might fight right in with the Equestrian Civil Service. And of course, what makes it work is Cadence being right there to "what the heck?" alongside the reader. So yeah, a different kind of comedy, but that's hardly a mark against it.
Recommended
For the Ones We Love by FlimFlamBros.
Reading (parts 1-20) by PhantomB and Brad the Browncoat Brony
I'm not sure why I had to split the reading up like this, but here we are. And this was a pretty decent reading! The only real problem is that his intro music is way louder than his reading, so it's one of those "turn it way down, then turn it way up" kind of things. At least he keeps his commentary to a minimum. Oh my god do I hate some of the voices he used though! Still, I'll probably look more into him later.
Reading (parts 21-27) by BigAshRandomVids
Genre: Sparity/probably Action-Adventure
The first chapter of this story is actually pretty good. It takes place pre-Equestria, with a unicorn/pegasus couple giving birth to an alicorn son while trying to hide from all those who would persecute them for their forbidden love. Star Swirl shows up that night and gives them a prophecy about three alicorns — two of them not yet born — who will rule ponykind in peace, though one will fall to darkness. Then he makes their son immortal because I guess that's how that works. Then he leaves, reminding them to love and tolerate. And I just… Okay, but I was at least somewhat intrigued by this third alicorn, right? We know which one falls to darkness, so what's this kid's deal? Well, chapter 2 takes us to a Ponyville ten years after Secret of My Excess, where everything is exactly the same except for Spike. He's become a normal teenager. He lives in his mom's (Twilight's) basement, his room is filthy, there's pin-up mares on the walls. Such original characterization. We also find out that he's in big with the ladies? He's spent a lot of time doing chores and stuff to keep his mind off his impending greed-growth, so he's really buff — so buff that he can't help but check himself out in the mirror twice during this chapter and comment how sexy he is both times — and all the mares want him, and he's been in numerous relationships with both ponies and dragons, including Colgate? c.c Also, he's grossed out by Lyra and Bon-Bon making out, isn't that lovely? Also, Rarity is not immune to his wiles, though she's never been able to act on her feelings or whatever it is we learn from the abrupt switch to her POV. This takes us to a scene of them hunting for gems and getting accosted by Diamond Dogs so that Spike can fight them, because violence is the only acceptable way to express your true feelings for another when you're a manly, manly man. At one point, the Dogs have them both at bay and threaten to gang-rape Rarity, at which point I decided I was not that interested in alicorn #3 and this story could fuck right off.
DNF: 2/28
As an old guy who has outlived several dear friends, I don't think you're overselling History Forgets in the slightest.
I quite enjoyed the changling applejack fic. I remember thinking that I had wished it were shorter, though. Like the events it covered seemed like there was too much prose and I wanted to move on to other topics. Like actually dealing with the fallout of the events in the story.
Basically I was slightly annoyed that it was basically one giant action scene squished between some great character moments. I like the moments way more than the action.
Hm, in amongst some absolute corkers, here.
I remember when BigAsh dropped that reading of my fic. Unfortunately, the thing that stood out at the time was that he kept mispronouncing names, so I never quite got into his readings. You make me wish I'd stuck with him longer. Oh well, such is life.
I liked Irony of Applejack, and its sequels to a lesser extent, though like Kits says, it had a tendency to ramble at times. Also liked Ascend, but the sequel was decidedly less entertaining. There were, as I recall, a lot of moments of characters doing mundane things, while talking about all the exciting adventures they'd had in time-skips. It got boring.
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I eventually switched to Fimfic TTS for Irony of Applejack because he could not pronounce 'vigil' or 'hyacinth', which is bad since those are both names of major characters in it. :B
*whistles* bug fics to read