It's Wednesday, which means it's time for me to take yet another look at the horsewords that people on Fimfiction have decided other people on Fimfiction (and elsewhere) might want to look at. There's a small hoof-ful of stories under the microscope today, including a couple of really weird ones. I'm all for weirdness, but it does need to be entertaining or at least satisfying. Hopefully it will be. Here's what's on the list:
Twilight's Strange New Illness by keulan742
Discord Finds Jesus. Literally. by ocalhoun
Celestia Orders a Funko Pop by Aqua Drops
Estrus by Friendly Uncle
Eternal by Pastel Pony
My Mask by Vimbert the Unimpressive
★: 1 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 3 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Twilight's Strange New Illness by keulan742
Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Fluttershy
Romance; 1k words; Oct 2013; Everyone
Twilight Sparkle is experiencing some strange new symptoms around one of her friends.You can see where this one is going, can't you? And it does. It's the author's only published story, which may explain why the characterisation is a bit off: Twilight can be remarkably dense, for example, while Rainbow Dash – 2013-vintage Rainbow Dash, at that – is often the sensible one. Rarity is better, and is by some way the most convincing of the ponies. The ending doesn't ring true at all, though, hence my rating. ★
Discord Finds Jesus. Literally. by ocalhoun
Discord and Other [guess who?]
Comedy/Crossover/Human/Random; 4k words; Sep 2015; Everyone
Discord goes looking for a new friend, and he finds one: Jesus.When an obviously fine writer punctuates a title like that, something's up. I've said in the past that I don't like trollfics, but there are a few exceptions and this is one. For a start, it's written in first-person omniscient – though given that, Jesus does seem a bit stupid later on. There are some excellent jokes, too: a "walking on water" one sticks in the memory. I'm not sure I can even criticise this of all fics for becoming a little preachy later on! Not quite the brilliant ending I was hoping for (though it's okay) but as long as you don't even try to take it seriously, this is fun stuff. Inevitably, the story's comments section is full of... well, you can guess. ★★★
Celestia Orders a Funko Pop by Aqua Drops
Celestia, Luna, Discord, Trixie and Spitfire
Comedy/Random/Slice of Life; 2k words; Oct 2016; Everyone
Celestia orders a Funko Pop. It doesn't end well.Not a lot to say about this one: Luna is irritated with Tia, and that's about it. Gets credit from me for having a more believable Discord than most fics manage, but otherwise it's very bitty and full of minor proofreading errors. If you really like silly fluff about the Royal Sisters, you might add a star. ★★
Estrus by Friendly Uncle
Mane Six, Celestia and Luna
Comedy/Slice of Life; 7k words; Jul 2012; Mature (Sex)
Twilight Sparkle's friends ensure that she knows the facts of life. Particularly the sticky ones...Sheesh, this was a tricky one to rate. Rarity meets Twilight shopping, realises Twi's in heat and is shocked to find she doesn't know what that means. There then follows a generally amusing, occasionally hilarious comedy full of sexual humour of the sort I usually dislike – but which this story actually makes funny. The continual use of wingboners does betray the story's age, but it's not a big deal. What is a big deal is a short scene late on involving Celestia that really squicked me. The only other review I can find, a "Highly Recommended" from Titanium Dragon, doesn't mention it at all, so maybe it's just me – but it means I can't share his outright love of the story. The ending is amusing and well in character for Twilight, though. Recommended, but proceed with care. ★★★
Eternal by Pastel Pony
Sunset Shimmer and Sonata Dusk
Slice of Life[/Equestria Girls]; 3k words; Nov 2014; Everyone
It takes one monster to understand another... Right?After the events of Rainbow Rocks, Sunset Shimmer finds herself with a new neighbour in her apartment block – one of the Sirens she helped defeat. This is a pretty talky fic, and it's mostly friendshipping between the two characters. No problem with that, especially as I like the dialogue, but the fact that Sonata isn't much like her canon character is a problem – an in-story explanation notwithstanding. ★★★
My Mask by Vimbert the Unimpressive
Caramel
Romance/Slice of Life/Tragedy; 1k words; Apr 2013; Teen
Caramel lies about himself.This is a companion piece to the same author's The Price (PR 11), and you do really need to have read that first. I think this is a better story than the first one, with Caramel's thoughts having a lot of emotional power. A short review for a short story, but it's worth the read. ★★★★
Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: a Rainbow Dash special!
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