Quizzical Greystone is a drab little pony. But this is not her story, not really. Her story is called Quizzical and you should most certainly read that one as well. This story is a sequel to that one, and it is about the foals of Ponyville (going up against a candymaker cooking show mafia).

When I first read Thweet Geniuth, I started on a Friday evening and read the whole thing start to finish within 24 hours. And then I read the whole second half of the story two more times in the following 24 hours. The first half of it is certainly not bad, but the second half of it is what really grabs you and doesn’t let you go until you’ve reached the end, a continuing series of climactic scenes, witty jokes and situational humor; a feat that’s made all the more impressive in that it never leaves the confines of a (somewhat rigged) cooking show. There are no evil wizards, no grandstanding villains aside from an egomaniac with a small but concentrated amount of power; it’s just a group of foals, taking down a cheating jerk one candy at a time.

But let’s step back a little. The story in its entirety is about the foals of Ponyville, especially the CMC, Twist, and the aforementioned filly Quizzical Greystone. I should mention at this point that Quizzical is one of my favorite OCs from fanfiction, up there with OCs like Clutterstep, Green Grass and Brownie Bun (kudos if you know all three of those). Probably the best way to describe her would be “If Pinkie Pie and Maud Pie can be siblings, it is also possible that Maud Pie and Quizzical are not related.” The main difference between them (aside from their age) is that Maud’s characterization was mostly finished with the first episode about her, and she seems content with her role in life; Quizzical had also accepted her role in life (which was eerily similar to Maud’s) before she moved to Ponyville, but is now striving for something greater and to improve her personality. Or, as some pre-season-five fillies would say, to develop any personality at all.
Still, a lack of personality can make an engaging character if done right. For Quizzical in her first story, it was realizing that there were dreams and emotions hidden somewhere in that drab little pony – hidden deep, deep down – and watching her rediscover those feelings, learning to express them and making new friends. In Thweet Geniuth her character development is… pretty much the same, really. But now it’s more of a side plot and she has already come far in understanding friendship, even if she does learn some lessons over and over and over again.

“That doesn’t sound right,” said Ray. “You shouldn’t have to work that hard for your friends. They should just like you.”

Quiz pondered this. “That is an interesting observation. I must make a… no, wait, there is something about your point that sounds familiar…”

“Gee, Quiz, you think?” snapped Sweetie Belle. She sat back in her seat with a huff.

What was I talking about? I think I got a little off-track… Ah yes, the story. Well, I don’t want to spoil too much, but at the core it’s a story about friendship and candy-making, with a little bit of mafia thriller mixed into it. Don’t let the premise of adorable foals preparing for an underdog place in a cooking competition fool you, though. Stories around Quizzical tend to have some surprisingly dark elements in them that jump at you out of the blue, without every really interrupting the cute and humorous tone of the story. So far the stories around Quizzical have included threats of bodily injury, near-death experiences, ghosts, attempted murder, breaking the Equestrian Aerial Speed Limits, foalnapping, child labor, irresponsible use of high-class magic spells and eating without washing their hooves first… each of them multiple times.
If I had to summarize the story in one or two short sentences… I probably wouldn’t do a good job of it, if only because the first and second half are so radically different in tone. I’d like to summarize the second half with a short quote from the story, though:

All of your friends are wringing their hooves in despair. Why are you grinning from ear to ear, Girl?

Really, it’s basically just 20.000 words’ worth of this.

Thweet Geniuth certainly has a few smaller points I could criticize, like how reading the middle part always inspires a short, but deep disdain for every adult in Ponyville. And then there’s the recurring problem for me that the story ends before there is any real confrontation between the main characters and all those ponies who made life unnecessarily hard on them because of something stupid. Even the talks between Quizzical and Merry, and Quiz and Twilight seemed a little short for my liking. But I recognize that it’s probably that small part of my brain talking that gets a sadistic glee from watching those “I told you so” moments.

All in all, however, there isn’t anything that would make me not recommend this story. Even two years after reading it, it’s still one of my favorites. And since we are looking for stories that are worth reading and discussing, not literary perfection, I can’t think of any reason to give this story any less than the best rating I can: Ten out of ten

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have 24 hours to reread half of a story. Twice. Maybe thrice.

5146976 I've probably should have responded sooner, but it took me a little time to gather my thoughts. It's been a while since I wrote Thweet Geniuth.

It's a badly flawed story, as River Road points out. For all it's flaws it's pretty popular - many of the fans my Quizzical stories call Thweet their favorite (which surprises me, as my fave is actually Adventures In Cake Sitting).

Even the story's biggest fans don't much like how Twilight and the other adults refuse to listen to Quiz. I'll own that I kinda abused this trope.

Many of Thweet's problems could be cured by editing out the middle chapters - I could have jumped from getting the kids grounded after going to Manehattan to having them sneak out but miss their train and having to call Luna for help. But there's a lot of pretty good writing in those middle chapters, and I'd hate to loose that.

5155878

The middle chapters are a little lacking when compared to the rest of the story, but objectively they're still good writing. I think it's good that they're in, if only to make Mary a bit more of an antagonist. She is Quiz' nemesis, after all.

Anyway, I'm glad you approve of the initial review, and thanks for joining the group. (To make this an active discussion I guess a short blog post for the story might be the most effective though... so far I don't think anyone else in the group has read the story yet)