TA Monstrous Meeting of the Fourth Kind

• MLP: FiM
• Comedy
• Sci-Fi
• Slice of Life

You have been coerced into helping Applejack in a stakeout, seeking to find the one responsible for stealing some apples. Needless to say, the perpetrator isn't at all who you expected. Rather they are out of this world.

• Sex
• Second Person
• Alt. Universe
• Applejack
• OC

Robipony · 7.1k words  ·  112  2 · 2.2k views

[b]Initial thoughts: Firstly, I've read Robinpony's stories before, so I am rather familiar with the concept of his stories and their focus. This one is no different, it focuses on the "author" as a male unicorn stallion going through the unexpected of dealing with the strange being's that he meets, that he knows as "Monster Mares" This story focuses on alien monster mares, and I felt like it did a very good job at capturing the unrealistic expectations of alien worlds, and the races, and how different they are from well everything.

You the author have seen a lot of crazy things, so meeting an alien doesn't seem that odd at all, by this point. However, the last thing I will note is the "comedy" tag. This was supposed to be funny in some way? I do admit maybe I'm not the best judge, but I didn't really see comedy in this piece. However a more slice of life/exploration of what it means to meet an alien.

This story was very odd, yet still rather interesting. It certainly isn't bad, but I don't know if I could call it a Masterpiece. I feel some of the other stories from this series as better in regards to the structure, the writing, and the emotions. Granted, the one thing I really enjoy about the style of writing, is how much I can feel convinced that I am the author going through these odd adventures, and meeting these strange beings. I feel that is definitely not easy to accomplish. Good job.

Score: 7/10

Heart of the story: The heart of this story is the adventures of the author and what he goes through. Each story is connected to one another and they are in a way, a series of Monster Mare stories. However, the downside to this, is that if this is your 1st time reading the series; it can be a little confusing. It's not hard to follow that this author has been on other adventures, but that's not really that important here. The importance is the journey from beginning to end. It's not nessarly marked as an adventure, but it's a story about discovery, the unknown, and becoming accepting of strange, yet odd things constantly happening to you, the author and somehow taking it all in stride. The concept is certainly unique and does have it's own charm. However, I still feel this particular tale is good, it isn't the best I've seen from the series, and I feel that is something that stood out to me personally. But if you had read nothing other than this, it's definitely something that will stick with you, long after you've finished reading it, and that is not an easy feat to achieve, and something to be proud of.

Score:8/10

Characterization:
Applejack: Applejack's role in this story isn't very big nor impactful, yet her character definitely stood out. She's stubborn, determined and quite taken a-back when her apples are a source of some other worldly problem that causes issues in the world. For her, apples are her livelihood, and that livelyhood is being questioned by this strange alien being that she doesn't quite understand. She's hostile, territorial, and willing to do what it takes to stand up for herself and the pride of her heritage and family. This Applejack is exactly what' I'd expect from her.

Halewara: The alien acts like an alien. I know that seems standard, but not all alien stories can do it right. I specifically remember Alien vs Predator. An older movie that I watched when I was young. I never really could figure out quite why the Aliens felt wrong to me, but I much more vibe with the alien cartoons back in the day. Usually, they were monsters of some kind, the good guys would fight. But not all aliens are bad, and that's what we see from Halewara. She's considered for her race, her people, and her heritage, much similar to Applejack, she defends her culture, her traditions and is willing to talk through these things with a total stranger, one that she feels gravitated for unknown reasons. Is this lust or simply a desire to procreate more of her own kind? This question is never truly answered, and yet it has me curious. What would happen from a union of pony and Monster? Would it be a hybrid? Or what? This is something that I don't believe has been answered in all the series so far, but yet I want to know.

You/Author: Granted this technically could be considered a "self insert" and yet it isn't. Because every person who reads this, may have different reactions to being the author. It's not really Robinpony putting himself in this "author" character, but the author is You. Second person writing is currently interesting. In a way that it engages the audience, and truly made me feel connected to this character who has a striking personality, despite fitting any situation he might find himself. I found him to be very soothing to follow along, and I wanted to know how he'd deal with these odd situations he finds himself in. And why does he write it all down? What does he do with this information? Is he gonna have a Monster pony harem? There's so many questions, and yet I can't help but wonder what else the author plans for this series, for it is very different, yet engaging and is able to hold my interesting. And normally, I'm not really a big "sc-fi" fan.

Score:9/10

Writing/Grammar: There was quite a few noticable grammar errors, though none of them were truly distracting from the overall piece. I would recommend a quick glance through of the story for the ones missed.

Score:7/10

Originality/Execution: Monster Mares aren't exactly common. Probably there aren't many stories like this. Plus it's written in a very unique manner. Robinpony has a very interesting way of writing, that truly makes you feel connected to it's main character, You, the author. I find this is not an easy task, and can prove quite challenging. The story also handles the oddity of alien culture well, and uses the odd choice of language to teach us more about the alien and it's culture, ,which made the whole story rather charming, yet a bit odd at times, and certainly left me curious to what lies ahead.

Score: 10/10

Overall thoughts and feedback: I rather enjoyed reading this story, and well I'm certain that it's not the best Monster Mare story in Robinpony's line of series works, I feel it does well enough with what it wants to accomplish. It wants to be an alien story, but it also wants to connect itself to the series of stories as a whole.

Now you're probably asking "Can I read this story as a stand-alone?" or "Do I have to read the series?"
The answer to both questions is Yes, and No.
It does give you a bit more context to know the author before hand, but it doesn't distract from the message and the fun/oddity of this tale.

Final score:8.0/10
7+8+9+7+10=41/50
8/10

Head pat worthy: Yes

Boop worthy:

Needs work:

To the author: Hello, Robinpony. I must say, you keep surprising me with these stories. I'm very curious to what lies ahead for our author. I will certainly keep my eyes on you.

To the reader: Recommended for anyone that likes Slice of Life with a bit of oddity, and even some exploration of Monster Mares, and what this alien one means to the race as a whole.

Notes-
There's no notes for this story. However I will say that Robinpony should consider making a guide. Of what to read in which order, would help for those wanting to dive into the series from the beginning.

Thank you for the review, I really enjoy reading them.

Final score:8.0/10
7+8+9+7+10=41/50
8/10

I'll take it.

Head pat worthy: Yes

I won't turn down a head pat.

I'm so lonely...

There's no notes for this story. However I will say that Robinpony should consider making a guide. Of what to read in which order, would help for those wanting to dive into the series from the beginning.

I actually do, there is a group I created for this series that has a forum that lists the stories in chronological order as well as lists which stories feature which characters.

Thank you for this review, I really enjoyed reading it. I hope you will enjoy my other stories as well.