Fic recs, January 28th: Project Get! #12 · 1:13am Jan 29th, 2022
VisualPony's channel has been going nuts lately, literally uploading every day, so tons of readings are happening, including! Mlp_Starry_Night's A Glow in the Sky! Masterweaver's DUDE.! tzening's Aren't We Forgetting Something?! Masterweaver's Princess Protips! Art Inspired's Ticklish!
Scribbler's newest reading is Perfect Prime's Twilight's Letters! She also did Seer's To Be Seen!
Cerulean Rush (a name I haven't heard in a while!) did Amit's Motionless and Socks!
Goddamn, it's really been over a year since I did this last, huh. :/ Well, the format hasn't changed. I sort my RIL by views and take ten stories off the bottom. I go for things that are complete, were written more than one or two months ago, and no more than one story per author. Seeing your story on this list might sting a bit, but hopefully I can drive some views to overlooked gems that deserve it, that's always the idea. :)
H: 1 R: 6 C: 2 V: 0 N: 1
The Education of Tumbling Leaf by Slipshod Extension
Genre: Adventure/Drama
Shortly after the Long Night, a young colt sets out across the world to find the meaning of harmony.
There's always an entry in these project blogs that reminds me why I do this. This is an undiscovered gem, my friends. The low word count might make you wonder how it could be a satisfying adventure, but it is. Not only is the writing excellent, so evocative that it paints a much broader picture than its numbers suggest, but this is both an adventure of the mind as well as travel. The conclusion comes in the juxtaposition between Celestia's sad admission in the penultimate chapter and the epilogue. And I love the parts about the crystal ponies and changelings. This is something of an "OC walks through history" story, but it takes that form with purpose: so that we can get the answers to "what is harmony?" from familiar faces, the weight of whose words we will understand.
Highly Recommended
Why Are You Doing This? by Spark Plug
Genre: EQG Friendshipping
It's going to take some time for Juniper to get used to this whole friendship thing.
This is a short, cute piece giving us a peek into Juniper's mind. I've seen stories like this for both Sunset and Wallflower, and probably Starlight, and like… Okay, literally any one-off reformed villain. You just don't see much Juniper Montage, and I really liked the direction the author took in approaching her. :)
Recommended
Jingleprism by Equimorto
Genre: Shipping
Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie spend time together planning for Hearth's Warming.
Want to see how polyamory works? I get the sense that this arrangement is fairly new for them. That maybe Pinkie was added into some Flutterdash, or maybe they just decided to get together recently. They're still working things out themselves, so we get to see how they're doing it. Otherwise, the slice of life tag is much stronger than the comedy, though the opening was pretty amusing. This was nice!
Recommended for Shippers
The Quills and Sofas Exquisite Corpse by The Red Parade, TheLegendaryBillCipher, Silent Whisper, Zontan, TheDriderPony, _Moonshot, Loft Withers, Shaslan and Atom Smash
Genre: Adventure/Mystery/Thriller
When Sky Stinger is kidnapped by the mafia, Vapor Trail and Angel Wings team up with Daring Do to get him back.
There were actually a couple exquisite corpses at the bottom of the list, but I didn't want to do more than one because. c.c But for being an EC, this was surprisingly consistent? Like, it does break down toward the end, but for a good half or more of the story, it's telling a single story! I was really impressed! I think the thing that ended up doing them in was using minor characters that not everyone knows? Like, Vapor Trail, Sky Stinger and Daring Do everyone's gonna remember. Angel Wings, maybe not as much? And then Midnight Strike, I mean, I know who that is, but clearly no one else did, to hilarious effect. I'll warn you the ending is not satisfying in any way whatsoever, but this is still a lot of fun, and a good bit less goofy than these tend to be.
Recommended
Fallout: Equestria- Sanctum by Dementia Ravenmane
Mature: Violence, Death
Genre: FoE Sidefic/Tragedy
Stable 273, supposedly the saving grace of ponykind. Now if only I can get my sister there in time…
I'm always here for a Fallout: Equestria one-shot. :) This one does a very good job presenting its story and characters in short order, giving us the end of their journey and then telling us a few more parts of their backstory. It's got good characters and action, and it doesn't overstay its welcome, though I certainly wouldn't have minded more. Well done!
Recommended
Pinkie and Her Bane by Fernie Canto
Genre: Meta Comedy
Pinkie Pie knows just what to do with self-inserts.
Make sure you read the description, because it really adds to the whole thing. This is another fun story about Pinkie knowing about how things work in the fandom, and while there's honestly not much to it, it is quite amusing from start to finish. I like that the author didn't gloss over their own accent (Brazilian? I think?) and even made it an integral part of the story. Otherwise, it's just a fun bit of weird humor involving the mane six and Pinkie being Pinkie. (Also it took me, like, way too long to realize the title was a reference. XD)
Recommended
Source by BootyPopperzZz
Mature: Gore, Violence, Suicide, Death
Genre: Creation Myth
As Mother Equus wept, the Exalted gazed into the veil.
This was neat, if a bit obtuse. I mean, look at all those words I just used in the description; some of them get defined in the story, but a lot are just left as abstract concepts to be accepted as-is. The writing also isn't quite as tight as I'd like for a creation myth, but the one-sentence-per-paragraph thing really does lend the proceedings a lot of gravitas. This is at least neat, and I don't think the M rating was warranted, either, so don't let that scare you away.
Recommended for Fans of World-Building
Detective jakkid166 in The Return of Harmony by jakkid166
Genre: Trollfic
Yes, that's right, Detective jakkid166 is back in another Detective jakkid166 adventure, where there is DISCORD and who is that? Read to find out, dummy!
At this point, what can be said about jakkid166 stories? You either like him or you don't. This is one of the really good ones, though! Also it made me realize that, done correctly, trollfics of this caliber can kind of be like Looney Tunes in written form. Just, there are some scenes that totally recreate things you would see in classic cartoons, and that's great. Highly Troll Recommended
Recommended
Labors at Sunrise by NaiadSagalotaOar
Genre: Romance
Rainbow Dash sparkles in the sky.
This is a really great short shipfic, with a very unusual pairing: Rainbow Dash and Cherry Berry. And the only thing I can really say against it is that this is a very good story about someone being in love with Rainbow Dash. Emphasis on someone. Anyone, really. Cherry doesn't have a lot of personality, though her emotions still come through in very fluid ways. But if you like Rainbow Dash, or you like shipping, check this out!
Recommended
Rainbow Dash Story by Smegmaman
Genre: Trollfic
Rainbow Dash does some stuff and probably dies.
I started out thinking that had I not just read another fantastic jakkid166 story, I might have appreciated this more. But then there are a couple jokes that are really just not funny, and I have to admit, the whole thing is rather dumb, far more random than trolly. And like, looking at the title of the author's most recent story, I think I'm safe to assume that really is casual racism thrown in there for no reason.
Not Recommended
:D
It came up in conversation while I was writing it that that story would probably have been more popular with the Anon tag, and would require minimal modification to accomodate it.
"Someone being in love with Rainbow Dash" was about as much of a plan as I had, so if that came through alright I'm quite happy to call it a success, though.
I featured this one myself a few months ago and completely agree. It's an absolutely wonderful piece that's gone way under the radar.
The Education of Tumbling Leaf sounds exactly like the sort of pony fic I need to read just now, thanks!
5632043
Probably how it got on my RIL! :)
Logged back in to Fimfiction on a whim and was startled to find this lovely, and incredibly generous, review! I'm glad you enjoyed the story, and I'm immensely grateful for the feature and kind words!
5653753
hey, thanks to you for writing such a great story! :D