Fic recs, March 7th! · 12:10am March 8th
I don't actually have anything new to report on? Skeeter seems to have gotten the help he needed before I had a chance to say anything about it. :O Good on the community for that! Ice Star is apparently still in need of some help for his boyfriend, however.
I had a good day today of therapy, eating out, shopping, and then having too much brownie and I wanna die now x_x oh god help why am I like this lol
Anyway, back to normal shit, including a couple new readers. :) My audiobook list finally dropped under 170!
H: 2 R: 3 C: 4 V: 3 N: 2
Shipping by Admiral Biscuit
Reading by VisualPony
Genre: Comedy
The CMCs' newest plan for getting their cutie marks? Do something one of them maybe heard half a conversation about.
Apparently when this was written, there weren't any stories on Fimfic just called Shipping. Thus, we get a silly little tale about Cutie Mark Crusader shenanigans, precocious children who are distinctly not scarred by the things adults talk about, and lots of meta self-winking. I thought it was really funny, not to mention very well put together, even though the subject matter might be exactly what you expect, given the cover art. :) The simplicity really works for this, though!
Recommended
Second Flesh by Caligari87
Reading by Lotus Moon, RainFlicker and DreamlessPortalVA
Mature: Gore, Violence
Genre: Horror
Twilight's friends were all relieved she wasn't dead. All except Rainbow Dash, that is. She saw what happened. She was right there.
Well now, here's a fun little piece of post-season-three horror! In it, we get to see an author playing around both with what Twilight's princess role might have entailed during the time she still lived in the library, as well as a totally new way to twist her alicornification into something macabre. I really liked it. :D Rainbow Dash is a great POV character, because of how frustrated she gets trying to figure out what's going on. Even she has to admit, she's really not the pony for solving mysteries. As for the pair of endings, the author says the second was more like the one they originally intended while the first was rushed to finish by Halloween, but I like the first one more. The second is fine, but it doesn't hit the dark, horrifying implications of the first. Heck, it might not even be horror at all, just a solid logical continuation of the story's final act. But either way you slice it, this is really good, and if you're skittish about gore, don't worry, it might be overstated.
Recommended
Sombralicious by Harmony Charmer
Reading by VisualPony
Genre: Random Comedy
Oh boy, who remembers "Twilightlicious"? Why was that ever anything more than a fleeting curiosity? Here's a story about Sombra not wanting to do that thing! And I use 'story' very lightly; I can't remember the last time I saw a fic with so little actual story. There's nothing here to even talk about, much less recommend.
Not Recommended
The Crimson Camping Trip by BlackVoidDragon
Reading by TyriusTheVA, et. al.
There are quite a few VAs involved in this production, which is cool! But I'm also just sort of assuming Tyrius is the narrator. <_< He's got a deep voice, maybe mumbles a bit now and then but is otherwise solid as a narrator. The one problem is that the VAs aren't all mixed at the same level, so making sure you have the right volume to hear everything is difficult. I also wasn't a fan of his dedication to playing the same song in full every time it showed up in the story. But I think he'll go on the list regardless. :)
Genre: Dark
A family trip to the woods goes horribly wrong.
So yet again, I find myself reviewing a story that doesn't seem to exist in written form. >_> That isn't always a red flag, as Quill Feather's edition demonstrated, and to be fair, this could have been worse. Other than the dialogue, the writing is honestly fine; it's just the idea that needed more work. A mom and her two foals go out into the wilderness to camp, the colt is rambunctious, suddenly there's a spooky, mysterious shadow and they return to their campsite to find things have been tampered with! Oh no! There's a song that keeps playing on various conveniently located radios, and eventually we find out they're being stalked by your average creepy weirdo. Basically a mad scientist? It was hard to follow at times. Point is, he kidnaps all of them, makes the kids "go insane" offscreen, and then bad shit happens and their mom needs therapy. I'll tell you the one thing that really sums this up: When the mom keeps asking, "Who are you? Why are you doing this?" and the stallion gives her a response, only for her to shout, "I don't care who you are!" Like… bitch, you literally just asked him, come on. Also, the kid's edgy nickname changes halfway through the story for no reason. As horror, this falls terribly flat, and while you could definitely do worse, you could also spend your time doing literally anything other than reading it.
Not Recommended
An Earl in Ponyville? by GeodesicDragon
Reading by VisualPony
Genre: Comedy
Does Twilight have a secret coltfriend?
…Well, obviously, no, or this story would be a lot shorter. And if you think for two seconds, the 'mystery' becomes quite apparent. The writing's really solid, characterization, dialogue and all though! Just wish there'd been something more to it.
Vaguely Recommended
Meat and Bone, Sinew and Bile by RB_
Reading by Lotus Moon and Reluxtrue
Mature: Gore, Death
Genre: Horror
An alicorn has never died before. This will be a great boon to science.
Oh wow. I have never read a story like this before, nevermind a ponyfic. The hero of this piece if you ask me is Falkenlied, who must have experience in a mortuary or something. The story's detached, clinical tone and visceral detail of pony anatomy are what make it work, and, I suspect, mostly his doing. But the idea here. Damn! The horror isn't just that which comes from acknowledging that a princess of Equestria can die. Nor of dissecting her corpse. Nor even of things which might be hallucinations happening during said dissection. This is an intensely creepy story and yet the ending could be called happy, if not necessarily sunshiney. This is really fantastic, and if you can handle clinical gore, a must-read.
Highly Recommended
Back in Black by Lucky Seven
Reading by VisualPony
Genre: EQG Comedy
Sunset changes her look.
I read the story description and had to wonder: is there actually any reason to read the story? In terms of "what happens", that's literally it. But if I appreciated anything, it was the assumption that, after their defeat, the Dazzlings would reform and just become normal high school girls, I've written that myself. But while listening to Aria explain goths to Sunset isn't exactly what I'd call riveting, it does set up a decent punchline. Or, well, at least a punchline that I enjoyed by reading into it. I think that reading is intended, just not explicit. Regardless, this is pretty fluffy, but I do think positively of it.
Vaguely Recommended
"Can I Kill Anon?" by Essay Jay
Reading by Agent0Fluffy, et. al.
Genre: 2P AiE Random Comedy
You can't just kill the only human in Equestria.
It's been a while since I read something so utterly devoted to silliness. Like, this barely has a plot, and definitely does not have characterization, in favor of things happening. Also, I couldn't help but think that someone who'd never read an Anon fic would be terribly confused if this were their first experience in the genre, because it relies so heavily on foreknowledge of what tends to happen in these fics. Heck, it could very well be commentary thereon! But there's no way to know, and the end result, while not exactly bad, lacks much in the way of its own merit.
Vaguely Recommended
Boris the Spider by A Hoof-ful of Dust
Reading by VisualPony
Genre: Comedy
Rainbow Dash is awakened from her nap in the worst way possible.
It's funny. This is from 2013, and the description says it was written with exactly 1000 words, yet the word count is 1003. It just stands out from the massive numbers of exactly-1000-word-by-the-site's-count stories for the various 1k contests. Anyway, not relevant; this is a story about Rainbow Dash being scared of correct about spiders, and it's amusing. Not much more to it, but I of course always appreciate these. :) For reasons.
Recommended for Laughs
The Pony in the Snow by Spazz Kid
Reading by Lotus Moon and Speedy
Genre: Horror
A winter cabin stay is marred only by the strange figure lurking in the snow…
All things considered, this is pretty light on horror, for all that it hammers the button of one of my personal phobias. (People looking in your windows. c_c;;; Save me.) But what it might lack in jumpscares or even standard ghost story tropes — who the shadowy figure actually is is not explained at the end, for instance — it makes up for in atmosphere and narrative anxiety. It helps that the narration is first person, of course, giving us something of a speedrun of the kind of cabin fever that occurs in something like The Shining. And it's really the narrator's voice that makes this, in the end, from their airy estimations of the cabin and the ponies they're renting it from to that anxiety and how they deal with it. I feel like I'm having trouble with this review. All I want to say is, this is a really good story!
Recommended
The Search for the One by shadowless_night
Reading by VisualPony
Genre: Random Comedy
Princess Celestia will stop at nothing to find him.
The longer this story went on, the darker and more serious it got. And the darker and more serious it got, the more I realized the punchline was going to be really stupid. Is it stupid? I can't say for sure. But it's also really funny. Totally did not see it coming! You're just gonna have to trust me that this is worth it.
Recommended for Laughs
Rainbow Dash Digs Herself Into a Hole by Thanqol
Reading by Scribbler, et. al.
Genre: Comedy
If Applejack can do it, surely anypony can!
So one day, blue horse bird was bein' dumb and stuff; it was a day that ended in Y. If, like me, you haven't read Thanqol in a long while, you really ought to fix that, because he's so good, you guys. XD What makes his comedies so great is not only a strong ability to write quick, snappy, witty dialogue, but also perfect pacing. We get a long scene of the former, followed by numerous short scenes of Rainbow Dash exercising her special talent of being incredibly stupid. By the end, it's riffing on Magical Mystery Cure in ways I have never seen before. Even in the Year of Our Princess Two-Thousand-Twenty-Four, this shit is hysterical. This whole thing is unique, well-written and entirely excellent.
Highly Recommended
Absolutely Abyssmal Afternoon by Justice3442
Reading by VisualPony
Genre: Random Comedy
Of all the tears in reality Twilight had seen, this was the most malevolent. And that was saying something.
Well, this is intensely silly. :) And a good deal of fun. Honestly, I don't have much specific to say about it, beyond the fact that the randomness amazingly continues to snowball through the entire thing, and I enjoyed it. Good fun!
Recommended for Laughs
If You Go Out in the Woods Tonight… by King of Madness
Reading by Lotus Moon, et. al.
Reading by MysteryPonyFiction
New reader! His delivery has a rare enthusiasm from the word go that I was really into, and in general, I have positive feelings. :D That said, it is worth noting that, while the sound effects and music used during the actual reading are mixed properly, the ones he uses as stings and scene breaks are considerably louder. Still not enough for me to keep him off the list though!
Genre: Horror
Fluttershy would never go into the Everfree Forest alone. But it sounds like someone is hurt…
I was gonna be all, hey, who gets the reference in the title? But the song is front and center of the story, so oh well. :B Unfortunately, like the last story, this one is intensely silly; the difference is, there is nary a Random or Comedy tag to be seen here. The nostalgia horror darkening of "The Teddy Bears' Picnic" I won't say was a bad idea, but it doesn't work here. Granted, Fluttershy doesn't require existential dread or toothy beasts from beyond reason to be scared of for a horror story to work. Heck, it even works somewhat in her favor if the scares are a tad silly, especially when it nevertheless gives her an opportunity to muster up some actual courage. The story just doesn't have any particular effect on the reader. Or, at least, not on me.
Recommended Only If You Don't Mind Your Horror Being on the Silly Side
Thank you for the review!
I don’t want to sell Falk short (he does have experience dissecting corpses, he’s a practicing doctor and did a lot of that while he was in school) because his input was invaluable, but I also want to say that I did a lot of my own research for Meat too! Which included watching videos of human, animal and one equine dissection, and doing a lot of reading. It’s probably the most research I’ve put into a fic, so give me a little credit! :p
Oh, hey, I'mma be reading that Thanqol fic kinda soon! It's Thanqol so I'm looking forward to it, but this only makes me more interested.
Took me a hot moment to place Thanqol: I know him as author of Yours Truly. Frankly, this fic felt like I’d read it before, likely off the mini-genre of “character digs a hole” stories. Not sure if I would have read this blind, but given your endorsement and its short length, I’ll take it.
I also like the look of that Admiral Biscuit comedy (not a fic with humans, for a change), but every other R or HR here is either horror or M-rated in a manner that is unappealing. Still, 2 short comedies for the list, not bad!
Meat and Bone, Sinew and Bile absolutely deserves that rating. It's a great fic and on my current short list.
Damn right Rainbow Dash is correct about spiders.
Several more to add to the list!
Thanks for the review; I always love seeing what people think of my work.
And some of these other stories, I’mma have to check out too.
5771481
absolutely, and you deserve it :D the effort you both put in really shines through, it's such an impressive piece!
5771489
Yours Truly is great, but Do Not Serve These Ponies is, in my estimation, his pièce de résistance :D super recommend that one
5771566
We’ll see. Even a really good “Lyra obsessed with/investigating/proving humans” fic has its work cut out to do much of anything for me. But I’ll beat that in mind.
Thank you