Fic recs, February 23rd! · 7:55pm Feb 23rd, 2022
Not an edition this time, though there are a couple related stories here. I just had a few readings come up of sequels to things I hadn't read, and though they both stand alone quite well, you know how I get with this stuff. <.<
H: 1 R: 2 C: 1 V: 1 N: 0
Cozy Glow: FIENDship Is Magic by RainbowDoubleDash
Read by Fimfiction
Genre: Character Study/World-Building
This is the story I have been looking for since season 8 ended. RainbowDoubleDash has taken the enigma box that is Cozy Glow and gone, "All right, then. Let's have you make sense." This is a fantastic backstory for her, following her from personal tragedy through the major world-spanning events of the first four seasons of the show. Along the way, she slowly puts together the pieces of life that will eventually become the otherwise nonsensical "Friendship is power". This hit every note I would have wanted, and even more besides. For example, it's told as a back and forth across the timeline, with the 'present' time being her encounter with Tirek at the end of season four. And Tirek's characterization? Outstanding. RDD even found a way to have them reach a certain personal understanding. Seeing someone like Tirek able to sympathize with someone like Cozy Glow has a kind of magic all its own. (I also dearly love the name he came up with for Tirek's homeland.) But what really got to me is that I loved this story in spite of it being what I call a chessfic. I mean, y'all know how I feel about those. >.> And maybe it's even because of this? I mean, the one chapter that gets the chessiest, laying out the game move by move, is also the story's emotional climax. Being able to weave personal narrative into a game of chess is not something just anyone can do. Anyway, I could go on for days about how much I loved this story, but the point is, I loved it, and if you ever wanted Cozy to have a backstory that makes any amount of sense, you need to read this now.
Highly Recommended
A Trip Through the Mirror by RainbowDoubleDash
Sequel to Cozy Glow: FIENDship Is Magic
Genre: EQG Comedy
Wanting to make a big splash with their school project, Smolder and Gallus bring Ocellus and Cozy Glow with them to the human world.
You know, I kind of forgot there was a time where no one knew that Cozy Glow was a reprehensible little tyrant. Took a bit of mind-jogging to convince myself this wasn't in an AU. I really can't complain, though. This has all the fish out of water shenanigans I could ever hope for from these characters going through the mirror. :) When it's not being hilarious, it's dishing out some really solid world-building for everything under the sun, and Sunset has a good cameo toward the end. I'm not sure how integral it'll be to this series, but I liked it for what it was!
Recommended
Queen Chrysalis Reforms (Accidentally) by RainbowDoubleDash
Reading by Poniverse
Reading by TheQuinch, et. al.
Sequel to A Trip Through the Mirror
Genre: "What If?" Comedy
And there's no going back!
Chrysalis reformation stories are, in my eye, a hard sell. She was so defiant to the end, I honestly had to admire it, and so having her decide to turn over a new leaf and become the thing she most despises/fears? Not something that will just happen. And doing it as a comedy? Even harder, if you ask me. Unless you go at it like this. There's not a lot to talk about, honestly. The story is very straightforward and surprisingly short, though each chapter is paced perfectly for maximum comedy. Using the five stages of grief provides a helpful scaffolding to hang the story on. (Depression is the most hilarious chapter by far.) Really, I just had a great time with this. And as it turns out, it stands alone quite well, though I'm still glad I read the previous stories.
Recommended
A Cold and Stormy Night by WinterStormed
Genre: G5 Shipping Comedy
Sunny accidentally agrees to spend a night in jail.
I gotta say, that initial A/N put me in sympathy mode right away. >.> Because otherwise, this is not going to appeal to a lot of people. I suspect the author hasn't been writing for too long, but with more practice and maybe an editor or beta reader, they'll continue to improve. I can't deny an effort was made, though, and this goes through the motions of a cute shipfic pretty aptly.
Vaguely Recommended
Unicorns Do Not Eat Earth Ponies by WinterStormed
Reading by VisualPony
Genre: G5 Shippy Comedy
Izzy wants to cuddle now, too.
Despite what I said about the writing of the previous story, this one makes for a good audiobook. There's the occasional odd word choice, and a lack of contractions in the dialogue, but otherwise, I can't complain. This was very cute and focused heavily on the comedy, and I found myself smiling pretty much the whole time. But okay, is anyone actually shipping Izzy and Sprout? <.<
Recommended for Laughs
Wanna hear something hilarious? I barely know how to play chess. In terms of my ability to play the game and beat my opponent, I’m roughly on par with a novice checkers player…who isn’t very good at checkers.
But Cozy’s got a chess cutie mark and this association with chess in the fandom and we even see her play a game with Tirek once, so i threw myself at the game just enough to be able to write a story based around one specific game, once I found the game that I wanted (it needed to be, one, a game where Black wins; two, a game where Black still has both its rooks and they are integral to the victory).
Thanks for the praise!
Oh, and if you or anyone else likes, here’s the blog post where I first started putting down some of my ideas on Cozy.
I absolutely adore Queen Chrysalis Reforms (Accidentally) . It's just such a wonderful fit for all the characters involved!
And I also feel the need to voice: chapters that revolve around chess games are a pain in the
. Conceptually they seem like a great idea as a backdrop for drama but in practice... phew. Not so easy.
That first Cozy fic actually sounds like something I need (personally I find her so fundamentally broken in her conception and execution in the show that most fic which expand on her still don't work, despite their best efforts). Ones going into her BEFORE Season 8, and how she got to know Tirek? That's a rare breed and a half! And at only 22K words, it's a quick slip of a thing to digest, relative to how much content you describe it having.
That, and while I've read precious little of the Lunaverse, I trust RainbowDoubleDash as an author.
Apparently I've read Queen Chrysalis Reforms (Accidentally), despite not having read any of the prior fic in its continuity (makes sense now I check the dates, it actually came out first). Though I don't remember much of anything about it beyond the basic plot. I'll be sure to give it another look in.
I've also read those two G5 fics, and… yeah, they're really not for me. The second one is somewhat better, I'll grant you that. The signs of working out how to write are readily apparently. But they are passionate and the author does care, which is important. I'm hoping they continue to improve.
That series by WinterStormed has three more entries (and a fourth in-progress for a month now), largely tonally similar and continuing the trend of being loosely connected but not requiring you to read the others. I don't remember their content enough to comment on whether their improvement continued, mind.
About a week back, for whatever mad reason, I got curious and decided to see who Sprout has been shipped with thus far, of his ten fics tagged with Romance. Hitch/Sprout had four, and there were actually two with Izzy. Pipp and Sunny got one each, and the one with Sunny was of a parody/mockery type. The other two are a second-person with Sprout, and a Hitch/Pipp where he's a side character. So, you know, Izzy/Sprout is a thing. A minor thing, but a thing.
Now I'm wondering what role Sprout will have in the upcoming show. We know Queen Haven and Alphabittle are in it in some capacity, as figures of them are in the land-themed sets from Hasbro's press release. It would be very surprising if Sprout wasn't also in the show in a supporting character role.
5638962
RDD's always been good, but he's clearly gotten even better since then. :D
And I guess SprIzzy is a weird ship to me because I'm too busy shipping her with Sunny. :B Well, and also he sucks and doesn't deserve nice things.
Peeps, do you know anything about the judging of the G5 Bingo Contest? I submitted for that quite a while back but it's pretty quiet and I dunno when they're planning on doing the judging.
5639004
We're hoping to have everything sorted out within the next week. Stay tuned!
5639004
G5 bingo contest you say
5639089
Yes but my story is the important one to read. :V
5638962
Not my fave ship (I put mine in my story) but I must admit "Sprizzy" is fun to say.