Read It Now Reviews #43 – There’s Something in the Woods, Totally Birth It, Earning Her Stripes, Dear Princess Twilight, My Name is Spider Web, and I am a Changeling, The Bestest Thing in the World · 8:35pm Aug 7th, 2015

I reviewed more than 15 stories yesterday. Today is the second set; you can expect still another tomorrow.

Today’s stories:

There’s Something in the Woods by HoofBitingActionOverload
Totally Birth It by Zodiacspear
Earning Her Stripes by ocalhoun
Dear Princess Twilight, My Name is Spider Web, and I am a Changeling by Lise Eclair
The Bestest Thing in the World by Minds Eye

There’s Something in the Woods
by HoofBitingActionOverload

Slice of Life
2,411 words
One night every month, Rarity creeps out of her house and sneaks unseen into the Everfree Forest. Her saddlebags are full and her destination is secret. She is going in search of The Witch, and Rarity will find her. But some monsters we create ourselves and others aren't monsters at all.

Why I added it: HoofBitingActionOverload is a good writer.

Review
Rarity goes into the woods to meet with an old mare who fancies herself a witch. Rarity ruminates on the meaning of playing pretend as a child, and why she loved it, on the way there.

This is fundamentally a character piece about Rarity; for a while, I thought the witch might be Zecora, but the story revealed otherwise and made more sense that way.

An introspective piece about Rarity, I just was never all that thrilled by it. The ending was cute, but overall the story didn’t feel like it really said much of substance, and in the end, it didn’t leave much of an impression on me, emotionally or otherwise.

Recommendation: Not Recommended.

Totally Birth It
by Zodiacspear

Comedy, Slice of Life
2,041 words
Nobody likes visiting the doctor's office. Always telling you you're not healthy enough, have to go on a diet, eat less snacks and so forth. Not so with Pinkie Pie! She's been ready for this. Has planned for years for this special moment. Now, it all comes down to this.
What is taking the nurse so long!

Why I added it: It was featured.

Review

The story is based on that comic, but alas, the extra 2,000 words spent here didn’t really contribute much. I was hoping for a barrage of puns after this:

Her thoughts drifted back to when she first conceived her visit to the doctor’s office.

But alas, while there were some puns, they were fairly spread out, and in the end, I felt like the comic that the story was based on achieved the apex of comedy more consistently than the story did.

Recommendation: Read the comic.

Earning Her Stripes
by ocalhoun

Comedy, Slice of Life
4,314 words
Rarity has a secret hobby that she'll never tell a single soul about ... until her friends come barging in.

Why I added it: It was featured.

Review
Rarity wants to become a zebra, to be wild, despite the secret shame of… being a zebra? Twilight and Rainbow Dash help her.

I’m not sure if this is like, an otherkin story or what, but frankly, this story completely fell flat for me. It says it is a comedy but it wasn’t especially funny, and the whole thing just felt very weird. The worst of it was, if the story was meant to play it straight, it indicated that the whole thing is extremely shallow and ephemeral – the story is completely unconvincing. The story makes all these assertions, but it doesn’t make me believe that Rarity would want to be a zebra – in fact, it doesn’t even really show what that means. Sure, the story claims something about wildness, but there’s just nothing there. No real emotional depth to it, and indeed, no reason to link that to having stripes on your coat. The story focuses on mechanics and not emotions, and in the end, is thoroughly unconvincing.

The worst of it is, what she did wasn’t even meaningful – who you are is not defined by the color of your coat.

Recommendation: Not Recommended.

Dear Princess Twilight, my name is Spider Web, and I am a changeling…
by Lise Eclaire

Sad
1,635 words
When Twilight receives a letter from one claiming to be a changeling, she is shocked. As she starts reading, however, she soon learns that there is far more to it than she ever suspected.

Why I added it: It was featured.

Review
Twilight receives a strange letter from a pony who claims to have been raised by changelings, while a changeling was left in their place with their pony parents. This pony, who self-identifies as a changeling due to their upbringing, wants to be able to visit Ponyville.

I felt like the idea behind this story wasn’t bad, but honestly, the story didn’t really feel like it went much of anywhere – it was an idea more than a story, and it didn’t really have much in the way of resolution or even a plot. It was just “this is the backstory for a character”, but there’s no actual story for said character – the implications of the whole thing aren’t explored, the problems aren’t faced, there’s no confrontation, no real conflict to speak of…

Without such, the story ends up feeling like “Isn’t this a neat idea?”

Recommendation: Not Recommended.

The Bestest Thing in the World
by Minds Eye

Comedy
2,309 words
Princess Luna has raised the moon countless times in her life, but tonight was the first time she received a gift and an invitation to Celestia's chambers after doing so. While she accepts, she can't understand why the offer was made. There was nothing special about the day.
But she's wrong. Today was the day the newest letter from Ponyville arrived.

Why I added it: Minds Eye is a good writer.

Review
Luna and Celestia trade amusing anecdotes about their bickering in the past after receiving the friendship report written after Sisterhooves Social.

This story is really nothing more than a long list of silly anecdotes about Luna and Celestia as children and young mares. Most of the stories make little use of the characters as we know them, and could have been about anyone, but one story in particular – the lesson their mothers taught them about stallions bringing flowers – was interesting enough to pull this out of the realm of mediocrity and actually give it some substance.

“Approachable? Is that where we’re going?” Celestia snorted. “I seem to recall a larger number of stallions arriving at Mother’s court each spring to ask after me instead of you.”
“And perhaps if you hadn’t strung so many along before rejecting them, you might not have encouraged so many others to try.” Luna stuck out her tongue. “Tease.”
“Those days were not spent idly.” Celestia chuckled. “Luna, you don’t know how much I learned by watching stallions vie for my hoof in marriage. A pony’s goal may be different, but a negotiation tactic is a negotiation tactic. It’s refreshingly convenient being able to spot the difference between the selfless and the selfish when livelihoods are at stake.” She poured the brandy again. “So convenient, in fact, that I’ve always wondered how many stallions came for me, and how many might have come by Mother’s invitation.”
Luna took another sip. “Now that you mention it, I remember her leading me through the orchards and gardens several times. She would quiz me about every flower we saw along the way to make sure I had memorized them.”
Celestia’s ears perked up. “She did that with you too? I had no idea.”
“I wasn’t even of age yet, but I still remember her lesson. ‘Beware the stallion that offers you one of these flowers...’”
“‘He is a thief, for he can only take what is yours and claim it as his own,’” Celestia finished. “Many stallions offered me one of our own flowers.”

On the whole, though, this story is nothing more than a bunch of cutesy little anecdotes. If you like fluff, though, this is probably up your alley.

Recommendation: Worth Reading if you like fluffy humor about young ponies, but don’t go in expecting anything else.

Summary
There’s Something in the Woods by HoofBitingActionOverload
Not Recommended

Totally Birth It by Zodiacspear
Not Recommended

Earning Her Stripes by ocalhoun
Not Recommended

Dear Princess Twilight, My Name is Spider Web, and I am a Changeling by Lise Eclair
Not Recommended

The Bestest Thing in the World by Minds Eye
Worth Reading

And there we go! Expect still another set of these tomorrow.

I also got a piece of original fiction about 3/4ths of the way written up this morning; I’m going to work on it more this afternoon, as well as do some more work on Mistletrapped.

Number of stories still listed as Read It Later – Important: 75

Number of stories still listed as Read It Later – High Priority: 309

Number of stories listed as Read It Later: 1634