Actually you know what?

Imma give some of these reviews before they potentially leave my bookshelves. The Big Ones to start with. Note: Two of these are part of a series and I might go a little in depth about the series as a whole. Or not. Who knows? Let’s get the easy ones out of the way first. Spoilers, obviously. Oh who am I kidding who reads these?

1. Petriculture by Kwakerjack: A fun, inventive series of fics that while long outdated by canon of course nevertheless are fun and engaging, tho I haven’t read all of it and I haven’t read ANY of it in years. The premise, essentially, is that rock farms don’t actually exist, and Pinkie is actually Twilight’s imaginary friend given life. Same with Discord for Celestia and Luna. Later stories would have the return of Nightmare Moon’s spirt who eventually gets her own body and calls herself Penumbra, a different take on Discord’s reformation, a different take on Equestria Girls (which I haven’t actually read), all that. I think it’s the…ideas presented and the imagination which drew me in. Good stuff, tho I suppose it can be overly wordy and philosophical. Works for me
2. Spellbound Fireflies by bats: This thing single-handedly turned me into a TwiDash shipper. It’s also a story about Scootaloo coming to terms with her own sexuality and like all good outdated fics where she’s living at an orphanage or has awful parents she gets a new family in Rainbow Dash…and here, Twilight too. I think it was…informative for my young questioning mind and that’s why I loved it so much. Dealt with these topics seriously. I’m gonna have to deduct a few points cause I don’t fully trust the author due to stuff she’s been involved with in the past, as relating to my trust issues. You’d think that as a raging feminist SJW socialist bastard that wouldn’t be the case, but she’s one of the people who SHOULD know better. Hopefully she now does, but the story itself is pretty neat even if I don’t love it AS much anymore
3. I Against I, Me Against You by Flynt Coal: I got into Red vs Blue around the same time as My Little Pony, both due to a Transformers fan-comic, and so something like THIS was pretty fucking cool to find. A crossover that fully understands both properties and tells an original story that’s still interwoven with the canon. For RvB, it’s an AU past Season 5, and in the three act story they deal with all the stuff they would have in the next 5 Seasons in different ways, accompanied by cartoon ponies who are interwoven into RvB’s narrative pretty seamlessly. A previous connection between Celestia and The Director, Twilight being like Church, interesting differences between the canon events while still following the backstory and keeping everyone in character. I need to stress that: All the RvB characters FEEL like themselves in a way few others get. It FEELS like RvB, tho the pony stuff is important too. These days I don’t much care for Rooster Teeth as a company, I’m only still there for RWBY (which contrary to dumbass opinion has only gotten better as it goes on) and the occasional other video, but I still hold RvB close to me. There are a couple things that haven’t aged well, tho: The trans jokes. They’re not horrifically offensive, but they’re still pretty bad. Also the slut shaming. Say what you will about about Season 16, but Kaikaina Grif is a great character and I’m glad she got the chance to show it then. And it didn’t get EVERY character right: I felt Pinkie was a bit too Caboose in this one and Donut was turned into a Straw Feminist/SJW for some reason and it always makes me cringe. Plus one of the chapters is flat out unreadable now. Nothing to do with the author, but still. All in all however, if you love My Little Pony and you love Red vs Blue, I VERY MUCH recommend this one (I remember Flynt Coal saying that he would do a RWBY crossover cause at the time there was so little information about the World of Remnant. I’d say we have enough by now, don’t you think?)

4. Daybreak by MyHobby: Part of a larger series of fics finally reaching their grand finale, The Heart’s Promise Continuity, this criminally underrated gem is essentially a political thriller: Someone makes an assassination attempt on Princess Celestia, and it’s up to a mix team of well developed interesting OCs and canon characters to uncover why, and along the way uncover something much bigger. I consider this one to be the end of “Phase 1” of The Heart’s Promise Continuity, as it really does set the stage for everything that comes next. The previous stories were fun for character and fascinating worldbuilding, but here’s where it REALLY kicks off. The stories are designed in such a way where you don’t technically need to have read the rest to get one (with the exception of the direct sequels and the finale of course) and so it’s In The Absence of Sunset Shimmer that gets all of the attention and that’s a bit of a shame because the rest of this universe, Daybreak especially, is just so damn interesting. My biggest problem would probably have to be how straight it is. All f/m couples as far as the eye can see. Does that not get boring? AppleDash and LyraBon are canon, so live a little. This may be my “grew up reading More Than Meets The Eye/Lost Light” brain talking but like…there’s no network restrictions forcing you to hide it. You can do whatever the hell you want and how aggressively heteronormative it is is kind of disappointing. Again, from a fellow Transformers fan. I remember you from the Funnies Forum, buddy. That was fun. They’re all gay, embrace it. Also some of the ways it incorporates itits canon stuff can be…awkward. Flurry Heart exists in this universe but was conspicuously absent from Daybreak: Obviously because Season 6 hadn’t come out yet, but it’s weird seeing Cadance and Shining Armor’s other two kids and in a later story learning they have an alicorn older sister that they never mentioned, nor did anyone else in Daybreak, and considering alicorns are a major element of the plot of Daybreak, it’s…eh. That’s about it tho, and the rest makes up for this deficiency, and it all comes together to form a series of stories that are both standalone and part of a greater whole. Daybreak in particular is my favorite of them. It all just…clicks, y’know?

   I removed a few of course. A Brief History of Equestria due to not trusting the author, The Conquering of Love cause of the same thing, Waking Nightmares due to creepy hypocrisy, and The Pony POV Series…that thing meant so much to me as a teenager but then the author was a bigoted hypocrite. So that’s that. If you don’t see some of these stories in that folder it’s probably because of my trust issues. The stories themselves still stand up (Also can we talk about this trend of shipping Spike with adult characters? That’s pretty fucking gross tbh. None of these stories are guilty of this, but still. So damn…normalized. Unacknowledged)

Comments

[Convoy914]

BRING BACK NOMAD OF NOWHERE AND GREENLIGHT RECORDED BY ARIZAL. Gen:Lock is best left forgotten im afraid, since its creator was such a huge piece of shit they had to sell it to HBO to make a Season 2 and they proceeded to HBO it. Also, Camp Camp was fun, but the friggin Hitler kid, that was…urgh. Plus, what more could they DO?

[Convoy914]

Stan RWBY tho. That thing’s never been better: They got rid of that horribly aged racist terrorism subplot, the characters and story have actually developed, one of the best Fallen “Hero” type stories I’ve ever seen…I think I might have to think up my own crossover idea for it and MLP. Preferably one that actually GETS RWBY. Rarer thing than you might think because no one can be normal about this show