abrony-mouse reviews We Are the Everfree

Over on Fimfiction, abrony-mouse (who I mentioned the other day) has done me the kindness of giving a more detailed review to one of my fics, We Are the Everfree. This story, as some of you may remember, was the one I produced for Mockingbirb's "Arboreal Yearnings" contest, in which characters had to want to be, pretend to be, actually be, etc trees. And no, they didn't have to be Fluttershy. They're not here.

There, abrony-mouse goes into quite some detail about my story, and there was definitely food for thought. There's also a small Q&A with me at the end, which is an honour I've very rarely had – it was fun to answer. I don't necessarily agree with everything abrony-mouse said in the review (surely woodenness is kind of a given with a treefic ;) ) but I'm very grateful for said reviewer's thoughts and good nature.

Read the deep-dive review on Fimfiction!

Ponyfic Roundup 488

Read it Later story count: 97 (+3)

Words read this week: 36,057

It's May now, everycreature! Season of greenery, sunshine (sometimes) and at least later on, hay fever. What relevance this has to this blog is debatable at best. If you're going to Griffish Isles in a couple of weeks then that will probably be among this month's highlights, but since I'm not it isn't. What is relevant is that I've recently had several fics recommended to me, which is one reason the RiL count has increased. I'll be reading some of those before adding any more, though, so that count isn't going to go back to three figures!

Losing a Rhyme by Original Username
Cozy Glow: FIENDship is Magic by RainbowDoubleDash
New... Friends? by OneLonelyPickle
The Tumultuous Tribulations of Time Turner. by midnighttowboy
Prince Blueblood VS Big Macintosh by MontyCS

★: 1 | ★★: 3 | ★★★: 0 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 1
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

Sounds of 2014: Nos. 85 to 81

Guess what, folks, it's time for another peek into the songs that were shaking the fandom a decade ago. That's right, we're back with the 2014 edition of the Equestrian Top 100. First up, the usual reminder of my criteria for inclusion in this series:

Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the/an original artist.
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this.
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out.
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion.

The first three editions of "Sounds of 2014" had no skipped entries at all. This time, we're not so lucky. I did have to think about one song before deciding it justified a Rule 3 application, as you'll read below. The final entry, though, I felt fell the wrong side of the line, so it's not here. Sorry! Here's the list:

85: General Mumble – Couldn't You Just Simply Die?
84: Forest Rain – Nightmare Night
83: Sim Gretina, EileMonty & Copper – Moving On (cover)
82: Turquoise Splash & Megaphoric ft. Joaftheloaf – The Twilight Will Rise
81: skipped

As usual, if you come with me beyond the jump break, you'll get a YouTube embed of the relevant songs, together with a paragraph of my comments and thoughts about each of them.

New reviewer: abrony-mouse

Years and years ago, I remember a poster called abrony-mouse was very active on the late lamented UK of Equestria forums. They've had a Fimfiction account for longer than I have, but it hasn't been very active for years.

Well... they're back! And not only that, but they're doing ponyfic reviews! Well, more of a recommendations series (as with TCC56) than a review one as such, and with a deliberately short'n'snappy format. The first two are here and here. I always love to see new reviewers, given how few of us there are these days, so yay for abrony-mouse!

Edit: and a mini-review of my very own We Are the Everfree is right here!

Ponyfic Roundup 487: Spotlight on How We Met

Read it Later story count: 94 (nc)

Words read this week: 49,651

Well look at that, it's Spotlight time again! No 300,000-word behemoth this time, though, but instead a story that clocks in at just under the 50k-word mark. I've read and liked some other Rated Ponystar fics – for example, Treating Her Right (PR 371). How We Met is an old story, something I did bear in mind, but I'm obviously a sucker for Fluttershy/Rainbow backstory or I wouldn't have written Where They Understand You myself all those years ago! Anyway, let's see how this one does.

How We Met by Rated Ponystar
Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash
G4; Romance/Slice of Life; 50k words; Feb–Oct 2012; Everyone

A story of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash's relationship from their first meeting to their end

You can probably tell where this is going by the combination of the title, the shortdesc and those genre tags – and you'd be right. This is a story which starts with the two as fillies, although the bulk of the action takes place after they've grown up, got their cutie marks and moved to Ponyville. There are some cute moments and even the mid-story shift from friendshipping to plain shipping isn't too clunky. The writing is generally serviceable but isn't going to win any awards for style, and there are too many typos, awkwardly constructed sentences etc. Also, as PaulAsaran noted, the as-it-was-being-written Author's Notes every chapter irritate more than they illuminate. Not a bad story, but very predictable indeed in its progression. Its age and the author's relative inexperience in 2012 do show and do cost it a bit. ★★

You'll doubtless know this by now, but, expect spoilers beyond this point!

My Little Repeats 161: "Daring Done?"

They do the sand dance, don't you know?

S7E18: "Daring Done?"

9 Sep 2017

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 7.2

The one with hotel mini muffins

Thoughts: This is a G. M. Berrow episode, so you know what to expect, and for the most part you get it. This isn't one for those who want perfectly crafted writing, but it does have some nice world-building with the (admittedly shaky) Somnambula legend. A special note too for the visuals and even more so the music, which really is nice. Characterisation is pretty variable: A. K. Yearling not being a flawless hero is good and I rather like Pinkie Pie here, but I'm not so impressed by Rainbow Dash – you know you can fly to escape Caballeron's henchponies, girl? Talking of which, the "hah, no flying here!" thing is a bit irritating, though I don't object to it as much as some fans apparently do. But the worst thing is that (as I said in 2017) the air-vent solution to save Rainbow is absurdly out-of-nowhere, right down there at bunyip levels of eye-rollingness. The main reason I'm downgrading this from a three-star episode to a two is that it's so frustrating: it does well for the first two-thirds, but then it falls apart. So, so much more could have been done with the third act. Oh well, on we go.

Choice quote: A. K. Yearling: "They don't sell my books in southern Equestria." [Er... why not?]

New rating: ★★

Next time around, we'll reach "It Isn't the Mane Thing About You". This is an episode which tends to split those irritated by overly convenient plot hoof-waving and those who just want to kick back and relax with the ponies. I tend to be in camp two by this point in FiM's run, so I quite liked it.

Hoping to post a bit more

Mildly ironic that I'm posting this at a time when I'm not posting more, but that's simply because I am extremely busy this week. You'll have noticed that last week I had a run of seven successive days of posts. That was fun, but in truth is not where I expect to end up – rather somewhere in between, yes. The "Daring Done?" rewatch should be along early next week, and with that, "Sounds of 2014" and Ponyfic Roundup there'll be at least three updates before the following weekend. Hooves crossed!