It Is Recommendsday, My Dudes #84 · 10:41pm Oct 26th, 2022
Y'know, I considered doing more horror this week. 'Tis the season and all that. But by the same note, the new column has plenty of horror already and it's only going to get thicker over the next week. So instead, I took suggestions from a few friends by giving them only the most vague connecting notes for the stuff in my ready pile. Since EileenSaysHi responded first (and none of the others were runaway favorites,) I'm going with theirs: Pegasus Legends. (Don't worry, people who gave other answers! The rest will be showing up in short order.)
The older of the two comes from long-time site fave Carabas with Thunderstorm and the Four Winds.
We open with Rainbow Dash telling Scootaloo a story about an ancient pegasus legend that was passed down to her from her own grandfather. (To note, this story's more than a year before S7 and Dash telling the story of Flash Magnus to Scoots. Interesting to see the reflections.)
Before Equestria when the pegasus flocks lived in the mountains, they suffered at the whims of the weather and the winds. Without the stout homes of the earth ponies or the castles of the unicorns, the pegasii could only shelter in caves and pray for the winds to take mercy on them when a storm came. But among them was a heroine: Thunderstorm, who had already done many great things. Seeing her people suffer, she set out on a quest to save them. So she flew out to speak to the great winds: North, South, West, and East. To convince them to give up control of the weather and place it into the hooves of her people.
Now, there's a couple parts that really make this one great. First off, ancient myths and legends like this are just awesome from a raw world building perspective and make for excellent stories. And this one - the tale of how the pegasus flocks learned to control the weather and manipulate clouds - is just dead on for it. It's exactly the sort of thing Equestrian society would have a myth about and the entire thing has those wonderful qualities of a story passed down around campfires.
It's also got a lot of character in it - you can easily hear Rainbow Dash telling it. Her own phrasing is present throughout, and her telling a story like this (and caring about a story like this) feels accurate. Scootaloo is also good, despite the fact that she doesn't actually have any lines: we only see Rainbow's reactions to her. But it's done in such a way that you can easily get those bits filled in for what she would be saying, and her attitude is there through the whole story.
This one's just a great mixture of all the big elements: it works great as a myth, as world building, as a conversation between Dash and Scoots... as usual, it's a great Carabas piece and a wonderful read.
In the second story, the tables turn a bit and it's Scootaloo's turn to tell a tale. This one comes from Mica: Pegasus of Raphinae.
Once upon a time, before Equestria, Princess Raphinae was the daughter of Commander Hurricane. But she lived with her aunts because he disowned her since she couldn't fly. She went to school with ponies that made fun of her because of it - like Diamante and Argentum - despite the fact that she was brave and strong and smart and tough. But eventually she would show them and everypony else how great she was by founding her own kingdom!
Okay. So. If it isn't abundantly clear from that quick summary: this is Scootaloo writing fanfiction. Self-insert fan fiction about an ancient pegasus princess who just happens to be herself but better in every way. But, see, that's great.
For starters, this one jumps out because it does a great job at one of the biggest problems with writing young characters with internal voice: making them sound like children rather than short adults. So many stories muck that up - this one does not. That plus the subject matter make it feel... I can't quite put my finger on the word. Best I can express is 'legitimate'. This is absolutely Scootaloo's writing. It feels like her, it's a subject matter she would write about, I can even kind of feel the connection after S7 (or the previous fic) of her writing it after hearing other old legends.
The story itself is, of course, terrible. (I mean, let's be honest here it's better than like half the first time writers on the site because at least Scoots has a reasonable handle on grammar and spelling. 
) It's blatantly Scootaloo herself going up against Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon while talking about her aunts and her absent parents. But at the same time, the story's great for those exact same reasons.
I dunno if I'm expressing it right, but I think you'll get my point if you give it a read.
New or catching up? Try Recommendsday: The Index for your story needs!
You know, considering how much I adore The Amazing Adventures of Captain Invincible!, a story about Twilight discovering a fiction Spike wrote (though it actually deliberately improves in-universe to the point of being a legit story by the end, and to great effect), I'll probably really like Pegasus of Raphinae. Weird I hadn't heard of it, given I've liked quite a few works by Mica, but then we'e talking about an author with 51 published stories, it's bound to happen.
And Thunderstorm and the Four Winds sounds like my cup of tea too! TCC56, you are a fountain of good taste on occasion.