It Is Recommendsday, My Dudes #35 · 8:01pm Nov 17th, 2021

Today's two stories are tied together pretty closely - one inspired the other and they both draw on very similar themes and ideas. Fortunately, they are also both hella cute.

The earliest of the two is She Dap by Carapace. (I can already hear certain members of the audience cheering. Hi Sledge!)

To start from, this story is unabashedly Tuna - a Twilight/Luna romance. It leads in with Twilight unabashedly talking about her attraction to Luna and how pretty the moon princess was from their first meeting. Particularly the little dots and blotches she had - dapples, like the pony equivalent to freckles. (Yes yes, I know Applejack has freckles proper, roll with me here it's the best equivalent.) It's not an uncommon feature in real life horses, but rare for ponies and their normally mono-colored coats. The strange thing is, when Twilight sees Luna again? The dapples are gone.

Like hell is Twilight going to let an adorable mystery like that go.

What follows is, to be blunt, incredibly adorable and very Twilight. The whole story is full of that - this is well into the pair's relationship and there's plenty of them being a comfortable, loving couple together. It's a warm pair of socks sort of fic, with the two simply being cute together even as Twilight tries to get Luna to open up about her looks.

Honestly, I'm not sure what more to say on this one. It isn't some deep narrative or complex mystery. It's just two characters being cute and loving and playful as one tries to get the other to be herself more. And that's a great thing.

EShe Dap

Luna has hidden a deep, dark secret from the ponies she watches over so lovingly. Were they to discover it, she can only imagine what it would do to the image they now hold of her. Twilight thinks it's just precious.

Carapace · 4k words · 954 21 · 11k views

The companion piece is, unsurprisingly, keroko's There are spots on the sun.

Unabashedly inspired by She Dap, it strikes a mirror story with Celestia and Rarity. It takes a slightly different tack with things: the tie between Celestia and sun is strong, but most ponies don't realize it goes both ways. So when particularly active sunspots act up... well, Celestia has to deal with her normally pure white coat being marred by swaths of warm orange-yellow.

Naturally, she doesn't want to be seen in public like that and cause concern.

Naturally, Rarity is not about to let something so minor as being told no stop her from seeing her beloved Celestia.

You can probably guess who wins that one. And you can guess that Rarity shortly after lets out a sing-song "Ideeeea!"

Like She Dap, this is a comfortable fic. Another wonderful look into a caring relationship as the partners embrace something one sees as a detriment of their body and the other revels in. This one is a bit more vibrant, to no surprise. Luna and Twilight is heavy on contemplation, while this one is full of motion as Rarity becomes a dynamo. Yet it still strikes that same vibe: a comfortable, cute fic about two loves being sweet to each other.

EThere are spots on the sun