Fic recs: August 4th! · 2:48am Aug 5th, 2022
VisualPony has done readings of bonamb's Caffeinated, Voxum's Celestia's Dark Side, and Bad Horse's The Gathering!
And Scribbler has done a reading of OnionPie's excellent story Cream and Sugar, with Animelodie, Party Blossom and Neighrator Pony!
God, it's taking me so long between blogs. >.< This was just a couple followups to the last Who We Are story I read, plus a few other odds and ends besides, but it's been weeks. Guh. Looks like I picked some good'uns, though!
H: 2 R: 5 C: 0 V: 0 N: 0
Up in the Air by Krickis
Sequel to Finding Home
Genre: Romance
Rainbow Dash has been on lots of dates before. But not usually with friends. And never with mares.
So I've read a lot of shipfics. You know I've read a lot of shipfics. And specifically, I've read a lot of shipfics where one party spends the whole story questioning their sexuality. It usually goes something along the lines of, "Oh no! Pony A asked me on a date! But they're a [gender I'm not attracted to]! Whatever will I doooo?" There is none of that to be had in this piece. Oh sure, Rainbow spends the whole time questioning her sexuality, and toward the end, it even seems like she might be going a little gay for Pinkie. But this is really more of an exploration of Rainbow Dash's character, something I'm always pleased to see done well. And the ending is worth talking about, save that it also shouldn't be spoiled; suffice to say the author states no one's complained about it so far. :) Add me to that list!
Recommended
Empty Sky by Krickis
Sequel to Finding Home
Genre: EQG Romance/Drama
A year into her relationship with Twilight and Fluttershy, Sunset finds herself wrestling with her past.
After the emotional softball of Finding Home, this contains all the deep, intense, meaningful drama I've been needing. :3 It's Krickis back on top of her game, picking up on a couple important threads from Sunset's life back in Playing House and using them to test the relationship she's built with Twilight and Fluttershy. It explores a couple of mental health issues, and does so in Krickis's usual, natural manner, demonstrating how to help someone cope by doing kindness to them. Really good stuff, glad I've gotten this far in the series. :)
Highly Recommended
Carrot Top of the Line by Fizzy Orange
Side Story for The Secret of Andalantis
Genre: Lunaverse
If Carrot Top wants to stop Angel Bunny stealing her carrots, she's going to have to figure out a way to talk to Fluttershy.
Funnily enough, while this story was written prior to Secret, if you read it first, the first chapter will spoil you on a major plot point for that story! So again, I played my favorite game: What episode is this? My first guess was Putting Your Hoof Down, since a big part of this deals with Carrot Top maring up to face down the angry Rainbow Dash. And that likely is the case, though I think it would be the first season two episode in the Lunaverse? But the real answer is quite the pleasant surprise, which I shall not spoil. :) Really, I think the final chapter rather redeems this, as the first two are plagued with very expository dialogue all written in the same voice. The third chapter feels almost like a completely different story, in a very good way, and serves as an excellent ending. So, yeah, I think this was ultimately a good'n.
Recommended
Coming Home by Noble Thought
Genre: Drama
No matter why you do it, eventually going home means confronting your past.
Ah! Here's what's now a blast from the past. This is based on the excellent issue of the comics wherein Flim and Flam were feuding over a mare, and they leaned really hard into the brothers' Music Man-inspired origins, giving us a character named Marian. Which I can excuse, because it at least sounds like "mare". And what the author has done with that issue is absolutely fantastic. This is just a perfect example of a story written well. Everything from the structure to the prose is utter perfection. It's just a story about sisters reconciling — with a very good demonstration of how to make an apology, no less — and yet it's one of the best things I've read all year. Excellence in fanfiction.
Highly Recommended
The Spiderwebses by Estee
Genre: Comedy
The Cutie Mark Crusaders start getting creative — like really, scarily creative — with their latest homework assignment.
No way am I passing up a story whose title makes tribute to The Spiderse. True to expectation, this is a rollicking wagonload of charming malarky, penned with Estee's patented dry, observational wit. "Droll" is the word that really comes to mind to describe it. I found myself laughing at incredibly unexpected things, and of course if you enjoy stories about the CMCs getting themselves into trouble, this delivers in spades.
Recommended
A Foal's First Words by Admiral Biscuit
Genre: Sad
Berry Punch's life was never easy.
What a tangled web this story is. Even though there's no Comedy tag, I thought I knew what to expect. Someone asks Berry what her kid's first word was. It was probably "fuck" or something. Good joke. Everybody laugh. Roll on snare drum. Curtains. Well, I was half right. Because in between scenes of Berry struggling through an ice storm to get her wares to market and maybe make enough bits for the effort to be worth it, she thinks back over her daughter's early foalhood and how terrible it was. Or rather, how terrible she and the father — a little-known background pony from Appleloosa — were. Yeah, Ruby's first word was "fuck", that's no real secret. But the way that reveal hits is just nothing like what I expected.
Recommended
What Lies Beneath by Admiral Biscuit
Genre: Character Piece
Not every little filly would pass up a trip to a toy store in order to explore a wrecked ship.
Admiral Biscuit has such a penchant for writing the most unexpected things. Have a desire to talk about shipwreck and dolphin facts? Why not pen a story about how Sea Swirl got her cutie mark? This ends up being quite the original little adventure, filled only with a child's thrill of discovery rather than danger or drama.
Recommended
That is a damn fine pile of stories, I tell you what.
I've read the Noble Thought one, and yeah, it was good.
Thank you as always for the reviews! I think Up In the Air is the strongest one shot I've ever written, but I'm not much for one shots lol. Meanwhile Empty Sky is my favorite shorter thing. Glad you enjoyed them both
Woo, two mentions in a single blog post. That's, like, a new academy record! And a heck of a (probably unintentional) birthday present!
I gotta admit, I've got a soft spot for Berry Punch. That story wasn't meant to establish headcanon, but it did, and here's a
for all the moms out there who are doing their best.
That is quite the glowing recommendation, Present. Thank you for it.
5677791
It was quite the good story, so thank you! :D
A fine kettle of fish indeed. I have to admit a certain additional appeal of the spidereses though :)
Ooh, some good stuff for the RiL list there. Thanks!
5677956
Fic reviewing is like a never-ending echo chamber, we just keep feeding into each other. :D