Fic recs, August 6th: Trick Question edition! · 10:15pm Aug 6th, 2021
Scribbler's newest reading is QueenMoriarty's Me!
So y'all know how I get when people post blogs with a bunch of fic links in them. <.< The latest one that caught my attention came from good writer Trick Question, musing about how well her stories had been rated. I of course couldn't give my opinion without reading all the stories, so sounds like something to do, I guess! :V
Note: Trick Question tends to write about really controversial, thought-provoking stuff. This review blog is of course going to cast brighter light on her work, but I absolutely do not want anyone taking it as an opportunity to make personal attacks. I have known Trick Question longer than anyone else in this entire fandom, I will fucking fight you.
But of course, my followers are cool, classy cats who would never do something like that. :D One wonders why I even bothered with the warning. To the stories!
H: 1 R: 12 C: 2 V: 0 N: 0
Holding Pattern
Genre: Psychological
Lately, Twilight has been distracted.
Remember when Twilight was all, "why do I never get called by the Cutie Map?" This takes that anxiety and runs with it, drawing a conclusion that is interestingly vague. The tags go a long way to helping figure out what's going on here beyond an impending mental breakdown. (For what it's worth, I think Morning Sun got it right.) Real unique stuff.
Recommended
As Long as You Both Shall Live
Mature: Sex, Non-con, Death
Genre: Dark/Drama
Forever is a long time.
Wow does Trick Question approach topics no one ever thinks to write about. In this case, Shining being married to an immortal alicorn isn't anything new, but the secret to how he's stayed alive for over a hundred years is. Add to that some very thick family drama (and a ton of mane cast shipping), and you've got a really strong story about dealing with change, and by change I mean death. But then you hit the final line and geez. What a twist. I'll warn you the content is objectionable -- I didn't even like it -- but this is easily the best way I have ever seen it used in a story. It's just a perfect note of horror to end on. I am absolutely amazed, goddamn.
Recommended
A Cry for Help
Mature: Sex, Fetish, Profanity
Genre: Sexual Comedy
It is night, and Roseluck is screaming again.
This is how you write a comedy! Set up the situation, move things along, throw in a twist, and bam, laughter. The only other thing to mention is the in-world racism, which is kind of a major part of the setup. Whether you want to confront a story which presents that openly and honestly before recasting it in a different light is up to you.
Recommended If You Like Sexual Comedy
Polyphileos
Genre: Comedy
Discord's learned a lot about friendship already.
I suppose you could say the joke here is an obvious one, but it's pulled off so well! This is an extremely fast-paced story, with eight characters trading off conversation, and they're all written perfectly well. Add in a little innuendo, and you've got a fun time!
Recommended
Friendship Is Replicable
Genre: Horror
The changelings have figured out a way to solve friendship problems. Forever.
Ho-lee shit. The only thing more terrifying than forced transformation is the kind of forced transformation that makes you glad you went through it afterward. This story encapsulates the kind of pants-shitting existential terror I experience when reading Friendship Is Optimal stories. (On second thought, maybe I don't want to read that contest…) The really neat thing about the way it's presented, well, two things: First, the sexual aspect, where everything that happens looks like sex, and Starlight reacts as though it is and feels shame for reacting that way. Then there's the changelings' dialogue, which is narrative and straightforward. Everything they're doing makes them sound like computers, like robots, and it really drives home the idea that they are an alien species, at least as far as ponies are concerned. Wow. This won't be a story everyone wants to read, but I guarantee it will get a reaction out of you if you try. Nothing worse than someone who wants what's best for you. Highly Recommended for Horror Fans.
Recommended
Forever Young
Genre: Dark
Rumble has been given the opportunity to live forever. All it will cost him is growing up.
So this is an intensely controversial story for reasons that become obvious very quickly, and I'm going to talk about it openly and without holding anything back. The primary idea is that foals are sometimes chosen by Celestia to live forever, if they so wish, remaining "frozen" as children until such time as an accident claims them. The story explores this concept fully, and does a very good job of thoroughly looking at how the concept is viewed by numerous characters, all of whom have differing opinions of it. There's also some good family drama with Rumble, Thunderlane and their mother. But the controversial parts are thus: frozen foals are expected to marry a parent who will take care of them for the rest of their (the parent's) life, after a certain age they are allowed to have sex, and quite frequently the sex ends up being with their caretaker (at least, the later caretakers after their actual parents die). These are not topics everyone is going to want to read about. But I can't say I've ever seen a story approach them in this manner. For as much as sex is discussed at length, there's nothing sexual or titillating here. This was not written to fulfill anyone's fantasy, but to explore a concept that, to be honest, I'm not even sure I get. I mean, anyone can appreciate the meditations on youth, death and eternal life, that's easy. But there is a clear allegory here that the author herself warned me I would not get, and by god, I do not. I can see that the pieces are there, I just can't put them together. So I want you, the potential reader, to know what you're getting into should you choose to read this story and try to put its pieces together for yourself. Keep an open mind if you do, and recognize that you aren't going to be led anywhere you don't wish to without your consent.
Recommended for Mature Readers Only
Back to Normal
Genre: Rule 63 Dark Adventure
Twilight's attempt to peek between universes brings an alternate dimension much closer to home than anyone wanted.
Much in the same way that the Seer's Again was horror for people with OCD, this (I suspect) is horror for trans people. That kind of gives away the ending, which I did not see coming, but I feel it's also worth mentioning just in case you're not in a headspace to approach this kind of story! It's quite good nevertheless, and surprising in that it's one of the few R63 stories I've ever read where the gender-swapping was not used for comedy. The first couple chapters are lighthearted, of course, but on the whole the story is not meant for laughs. So, I want to spend the rest of this review talking about names, because comedy or not, that's where half the fun of R63 comes from, and Trick Question took care to avoid using the classic names created by Connor Cogwork. Feel free to skip to the end if you'd rather find out what their names are in the story itself. So for starters, I have always hated "Elusive" as a male verison of Rarity, because it's the wrong fucking part of speech, goddammit, and the choice of "Curio" as a replacement is stellar. That's just beautiful, and it's the second-best name in this story. Rainbow Rush is better than Rainbow Blitz solely because it rolls off the tongue better. Flittercoy is, uh, very find-and-replace-with-synonyms, for all that it's inherently better than "Butterscotch". The same can be said for "Nightfall Twinkle", save that after a while, I started to realize that "Nightfall" is actually a way cool name, so I'm okay with it. Bubble Pop skews close to Bubble Berry, but it's honestly just a good pony name. Frill is eh, I actually kind of prefer the real-world cognate of "Barb" for Spike myself. Celestia as Helios I've definitely seen before, though the name used for Luna is actually very clever, even if it's a bit confusing. Then there's the one I will not spoil, the best name-swap in this story, and that's for Star Swirl the Bearded, who is only ever mentioned. I've never seen someone attempt to make a female version of him, and just from the name itself, this is the absolute best. So yeah, good story, lots to appreciate!
Recommended
Tiara's Testament
Genre: Suicide Note
Diamond Tiara finally understands how best to use her special talent to make Equestria a better place.
This is really poignant and sad, and yet the way it's framed seems almost comedic. "Are you a rich piece of shit with everything you could ever want? Make the world a better place by giving your stuff away and kys!" But clearly, this is not the case. And strangely, I almost thought in the middle that it wouldn't turn out to be a suicide letter, which would have been more interesting yet likely hold less impact. It's just always heartbreaking to see the logical leaps a person will go through to justify their end. Don't do it, whoever you are, live another day.
Recommended
Smoothing the Knots
Reading by VisualPony
Genre: Best Sisters
This is one of those "so real it may as well be canon" fanfics. This feels like a conversation that must have occurred between Celestia and Luna shortly after the return of the latter. I like the few nods to Luna prognosticating her own future, as well. This is purely heartwarming, comforting and sweet, I loved it.
Recommended
The Knight and the Knave
Sequel to Smoothing the Knots
Genre: Best Sisters
Luna seems hellbent on torturing herself. Celestia tries to help.
I sense a sequel tree, here! This takes off a few years after the previous one, moving to the aftermath of the Tantabus incident. The same solid, strong, deep characterization of the last story is on display here also. I've rarely if ever seen an author so capable of making the centuries shared by the Royal Sisters so palpable in their dialogue, and so understandable. That's really the key point here, though I do love the implication of where this is headed…
Highly Recommended
Ashes
Sequel to The Knight and the Knave
Genre: Dark
For the last millennium, Celestia has been secretly erasing her memory every sixteen years. Now it's time for the cycle to end and her memories to return. But at what cost?
This, I'm sorry to say, is a bit of a step down. It starts with a brilliant thesis, then uses it to explain some canon in novel ways. Then it gets bogged down with explaining too much, which seems to be a common complaint. The twist in the reveal was interesting, however, and it comes in a scene with a very well-written, wise Star Swirl. The ending thus leaves the reader with a question to ponder. So it does work, it just gets a bit too caught up in itself along the way. Oh, and it's quite dark, so keep that in mind.
Recommended
Letting Go
Genre: Sad Crackfic
Mrs. Cake helps Pinkie Pie through her loss.
I don't know if there's anything I can say about this that won't spoil it. So, it's good, it's sadfic for people who don't like sadfic, it won't take much of your time to read, go do it.
Recommended
Unforgettable
Genre: Dark
Starlight has discovered a new spell that will allow her friends to know when disaster is about to strike. Sounds perfect for Ponyville, right?
Oh hey, this is actually a story about Twilight fucking up a spell. :D Or at least, not knowing just what extent casting it will affect. But unlike other magic-induced mistake fics, this one's mostly about dealing with the consequences. A large portion of the middle is devoted to mitigation, for instance, and it was honestly refreshing to see the ponies of Ponyville so trusting of Twilight. There was literally no resistance to her plan to get everything under her control. It was nice. There is a spot in said middle where Granny Smith dies with absolutely no fanfare, which felt strange, but eventually the lack of fanfare is justified toward the end, with a resolution that is even stranger. If nothing else, this is a story that focuses on death without being overly mopey or dramatic, even if it does bring out the old "death is a part of life" nonsense that I have never agreed with. It's a pretty original fic, all told.
Recommended
Don't Say It
Genre: Sad Romance
Spike loves Rarity. But he can never say it.
This is a breezy piece spiralling off from the final scene of Secret of My Excess in a pleasantly metaphorical way into the only kind of Sparity that I will abide: tragic. Of course, the real tragedy is that Spike is a dumbass. He never gave up trying, but he still never became the kind of person Rarity deserves, and he didn't realize this and move on. He grew older, but not wiser. Big oof.
Recommended
No Choice
Sequel to No Choice
Genre: Dark Sci-Fi
Agent Sweetie Drops had no idea what to expect when she was assigned to pierce the further reaches of the sky.
Did you know you can set a story as its own sequel? Well, now you do. That's such a great bit of meta storytelling, priming the reader for what lies within. And what lies within is some pretty cool stuck-in-space action/horror. Real good sci-fi, even if the end is no secret due to aforementioned priming. I dunno, I liked it!
Recommended
I heard Trick Question is a meanie who sometimes doesn't give scritches!
I don't actually follow trick, because a lot of her work isn't to my taste, but it never ceases to amaze me just how many of her fics scratch one itch or another.
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Despite having read her work for a long time, this little exercise drove home that she is just a generally good writer. She's strong at a lot of varied things and frequently comes up with unique takes on a wide range of topics.
Goddamn 'As Long as You Both Shall Live' is an amazing story. That last bit hits you like a sledgehammer.
You are too sweet for words.
But it's fun to provide you with words nonetheless.
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This is good. :D I like words.
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This was a clever synopsis, by the way.
Thanks for not giving anything away.
That story, "The Laughter I Choose to Be", and (to a lesser extent) "Recycled" are each fun (for me at least) for what you're unlikely to spot until the second read-through, despite being short reads.
I wonder if I could get away with that blog trick...I've several stories that underperformed...and I like attention... :p
Wow, Trick practically gets a dedicated review post by Paul Asaran, and now one from you, too. Some karmic entity somewhere is in her corner.
Man, that's some next level Sci-Fi
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If it were karma I'd get no reviews! Paul and Present are just both super-sweet, and I talk about my own fiction way too much for my own good.
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...and fine you are also sweet Pascoite. I admit it.
I miss seeing you at cons but maybe it's for the best because if I were your wingpony every time you got shot down by a prospective romantic partner I would be unable to resist saying, "Sorry, Pascoite, I guess you're not..."
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...Except I'm married. 22 years now!
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and joke still applies at cons at midnight. I don't know nearly enough vanadium-oxide-based friends, I'm afraid.
Congratulations on that
Ah. Now that the crowd is gone, I can add a couple of things.
The allegory for Holding Pattern was something I had to reconstruct with my own detective work because I literally lost that data in my brain to electroconvulsive therapy. I can at least say it's something many transgender people are going to identify with, and as usual in my tales, what happened in the story isn't as important as what the story is attempting to illustrate—which is one reason it's intentionally vague: figuring out the author's version of events isn't what the story is about.
It's weird to me that you'd R a story you didn't like! I hope you didn't do that just for me. Maybe you're saying you think most people would really get something out of it, but you really didn't enjoy it personally due to your own idiosyncrasies?
For Forever Young, I should add a note to your review that the sex is never supposed to be with the parental caretaker, which is kind of how that reads in the review right now. It can be with later caretakers the ff marries after they're much older (so the context of the "marriage" is a bit different) and their parents have already died at that point.
The allegory for FY isn't as complex as you might think, but if you see the inescapability of the protagonist having to make his choice and the downside of the choice he's making, it might make you think of what some people are willing to do to preserve their self-perceived innocence and how well that virtually always turns out for them.
Wow! This is true to a large extent and I had no idea myself until I you wrote this review. I so want to write the sequel to this one...
TKotK is a tough act to follow (I think the twist is perfectly done in that one, and I can say that now because this blog is old so nopony can read me bragging
—that one and The Laughter I Choose to Be (and I suppose Broken Symmetry and The Price of a Smile, for longer fare) all have replay value to see "how I pulled it off", so to speak) so I'm not surprised people almost never like Ashes as much. It's also aimed in a different direction from its predecessors, undoing them to an extent (which is sometimes kind of a buck you to the audience when done for convenience: see Alien 3 and Ewok Adventure 2, for two prominent examples) but for the purpose of sending a stronger message about personhood and loss. It doesn't take the audience where they want to go, but that's the point.
Letting Go is not a crackfic.
It's intended to produce a possible chuckle, and then the saddark sets in when you realize the implications...
Despite the tag, Friendship is Replicable isn't intended to be a horror story. It can be read in more than one way, in very different frames of mind. It's not horrifying to me (and neither is I,E I'm almost afraid to admit), so you'd best hope I don't develop godlike powers anytime soon because I will make you all very happy.
Don't Say It reveals a surprising amount about the reader based on who they blame for the tragedy. People in the comments section have stridently argued for Spike being the heel and Rarity being blameless, as well as for Rarity being the heel and Spike being blameless. (My official vote is for both of those at the same time.)
I only added the gimmick to No Choice shortly before you read it, because it was added to a Lyra/Bon reading list on EQD and the idea came to me. I have one other story I could do that to, but it would almost ruin the story, so I can't. (That unnamed story is one of my personal faves, too, despite it being unpopular for the traditional fandom reason of how-dare-Twi-have-fatal-flaws. Beyond that I dunno why more readers don't like it... maybe just the Dark aspect.)
Thanks again for reading my stories, not to mention the reviews! I shall try to Trick you into reading more in the future. Just try not to think of it as me altering your personality and beliefs subtly with words that mentally reprogram you, even though that's basically what it is, and you'll be fine.
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Theoretically, in the best world, this would be the only criterion I consider when making a recommendation! :B I mean, I certainly do the opposite plenty, the "I really liked this, but I recognize it's niche so few are going to get anything out of it".
Mm, I did get that out of the story, I'll make a small change.
Then why was I so horrified? D:
Okay! :D
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As an aside, I wanted to check that you know Kitsune Heart from Fimfiction does readings, because they've done some podfics of my stories at that link, and also other authors' stories which I have been told are actually a thing that exists. I don't know what the quality of the readings is because I haven't listened yet.
Granted, Cinnamon Tea is intentionally catty about whether or not he did ever engage in incest, but that may have been one of the things he left open as part of his attempt to freak Rumble out.
Also, I have to wonder if you noticed the power exchange comparison, which is a direct reference to BSDM and how people in kink fandom try to explain how the things they do are ethical (which was relevant).
Also also, I sometimes go out of my way to reference extended canon! The "imperial colt" aside is there because that's what Gameloft decided to call Cinnamon Tea, for whatever bizarre, cracked-out reason.
I'm not sure they know what that word means. (I mean the word "imperial". They probably know "colt".) Plus, the use of that word specifically adds another layer/hint regarding Celestia's decision to create frozen foals.
Your resistance to one of the themes of Unforgettable is a clue, but also we haven't converted you yet. You should be safe for a while as long as you don't read TSJ.
I should really get you to read my novella Broken Symmetry sometime. I could do a reading of it for YouTube, but I'd need to learn video stuff because there are required diagrams as I am way too geeky for my own good, but even if you get lost amid the quantum physics it is still really great to read because SparkleDancer is best ever and you will like the action and romance (well, "best" not counting the extremely obvious OTP of GlimTrix, and maybe also the disturbing train-wreck that is Sparity, and of course every incest ship that exists no matter how far-fetched but now I'm just rambling about awful things again oh wait I forgot any romance whatsoever with Thorax because I love my bugsbando and my recent incomplete Spike porn story is headed there which starts with Sparity breakup vibes and is super duper gay but I don't know what you like in porn tbh).
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Not Spike or Thorax, for starters. :')
(Actually made that change, btw. c.c)
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Thorax is the sweetest, most lovable character in the entire show! He is literally love and good intentions personified. Not wanting to hug him forever and ever is a crime against nature.
Spike can be very cute too. Especially embarrassed flavor of femboy!Spike.
That said, I'm a hopeless romantic so of course I'm head over heels for best buggo.