Read it Later story count: 95 (-1)
Words read this week: 25,292
As trailed last week, a low word count this time round, but still the usual five stories under review. Without further ado, let's get to them:
Strong to the Finnich by KnightMysterio
Late Delivery by WaywardSon
Quod Timeo by Figments
Letter Never Sent by Rambling Writer
To Be Remembered by MrSpartan
★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 3 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.
Strong to the Finnich by KnightMysterio
Twilight, Zecora, Mane Six and Tempest Shadow
G4; Comedy/Random/Slice of Life/Crossover; 4k words; Feb 2022; Everyone
After a big fight, Popeye ends up in Equestria. Shenanigans ensue.
An entry for the "Who Crossed Over My Little Pony?" contest, which asked for crossovers with a classic cartoon character. I suspect many people will get from the title alone that this one features Popeye. The intersection of the two worlds is a little awkward in places, unsurprising given the cartoons work differently, but they meld together enough to bring some chuckles. Popeye himself is fun, solidly voiced; and several little visual gags work about as well as they could given the changed medium. I'm old enough to have watched Popeye shorts when the BBC showed them in the 1980s, and while that's not strictly necessary I do think it helps. This may not wow you, but it should bring a nostalgic smile and so gets a three. ★★★
Late Delivery by WaywardSon
OC
G5; Slice of Life/Drama; 5k words; Nov 2021; Everyone
What would happen if an earth pony couple in Maretime Bay gave birth to a bouncing baby pegasus?
This one was the week's delightful surprise. Set a short while before the G5 movie, which explains why the premise matters, this gradually moves from a tightly-focused family drama into something larger. As the story opens up, we discover that ponies all over Equestria work secretly to help in just this kind of case. There's a POV shift about halfway through, but I didn't feel it was jarring. A reveal right at the end will divide opinion, since it ties into how G4 and G5 relate, but I thought it worked. Perhaps a little less so a couple of slightly forced-feeling references to G5 characters. Nevertheless, it's a really engaging fic, all the more so considering it was WaywardSon's Fimfiction debut. Recommended. ★★★★
Quod Timeo by Figments
Rainbow Dash
G4; Dark; 3k words; Jun 2012; Teen
Rainbow Dash is chased by something she doesn't know
I'm not good on Latin, but the title means something like "Which I Fear". Rainbow Dash is in the Everfree Forest, which has a nicely claustrophobic quality to it here. We're not told exactly what Dash is doing or why, but every so often we get a new detail thrown in: a cave, a dream, a name. An untagged character plays a small but significant part. It's all quite tense, but it's also choppy: it feels like a series of vignettes rather than a fully connected story. As such, while it's intriguing it never quite sparks fully into life. ★★
Letter Never Sent by Rambling Writer
OCs and Crystal Ponies
G4; Drama/Sad; 5k words; Aug 2022; Everyone
A crystal pony refugee writes letters to the future.
Written for the Twilight Files contest, which asked for fics told entirely with in-universe documents, this two-hoofed epistolatory fic has a simple but tragic starting point: that a crystal pony couple were miles apart when the Crystal Empire disappeared and so are now split asunder. The mare, Agate, is trapped in the Empire; the stallion, Jasper, is in Canterlot. I like the way the two ponies have such different immediate concerns – and yes, we do hear of Sombra – but nevertheless share enough to make you believe in them as a pairing. A running theme of Jasper's struggles to relate to their son Corundum (daughter Quartz is with Agate) adds a tangy emotional note. The way the letters evolve is generally satisfying and convincing, though unfortunately the very last one is slightly underwhelming in its emotional impact. Nevertheless, an interesting concept used nicely. Top-end three. ★★★
To Be Remembered by MrSpartan
Twilight and Spike
G4; Dark/Adventure/Sad/Human; 10k words; Nov 2012; Teen
The world is vast and so is time, but not even that can hide the existence of an ancient city forever.
Twilight and Spike travel to an unexplored land "beyond the Badlands" where they find the ruins of an ancient civilisation. It's obvious from quite early on in this deliberately slow-paced fic that the vanished creatures were fairly advanced humans and that there was some kind of war. So far, so hackneyed, but this is lifted considerably by its subdued atmosphere and especially by a lovely portrayal of (2012-style; the fic couldn't really be written now, and not just for this reason) Twilight and Spike's relationship. It was the highlight of the fic for me. Some nice little touches too regarding the lost civilisation, though not without a few irritations when it lapses a little into post-apocalyptic gaming clichés. For me that nudges its rating down slightly to the top of the three-star band, but it's still significantly more interesting than many a post-apoc [Human]-tagged fic. I suspect it might work best as audio – it's interesting that Ghost Mike, who listened via Scribbler's reading, liked it a great deal. ★★★
That was a very decent week's slate! Not that long now until I reach my 2,000th review. Will it be anything special? You'll see when I get there! That won't be next time, however. In Ponyfic Roundup 481, I'll be looking at these five stories:
Ladybugs Awake by Uz Naimat
The 41-Second Goddess by Bicyclette
"Teach Me Goodness" by Posh
End of Our Story by qiley
Persephone by PresentPerfect
Hey, three fics I've read, nice! Which is also true of next week – got some fun reaction times ahead of me here!
ReplyDeleteStrong to the Finnish was one of the "merely fine" cartoon crossovers for me, with very little to stick once the novelty wore off. The kind of crossover that gets more tiring the longer it goes on, and strains to justify itself. But it's perfectly readable, even if I can't see my way to a ★★★.
And yep, even two-plus years one, Late Delivery remains one of the best G5 fics I've read. An obvious concept with lots of potential once you hear it (a few great one-shots in the wake of the movie delved into this "exchanging children of a foreign pony type to other tribes so they could lead a better life" notion). Unsurprisingly, I had little trouble with the name-drops of some G5 characters (though they feel a little more off with show canon now, I suppose) and didn't care for the direct G4 connection at all. But otherwise, the family drama, the sincerity and hope, and the feeling of keeping the flame of hope alive between the tribes for the best of the kids until things are fixed, carries it well. It just feels, without mugging for it. Any fic that can come by that legitimately, and doesn't have other turn-off factors, will always catch my eye.
It really is impressive as a debut fic, and while I've read a few of WaywardSon's other fics, including their recent G5 fic Sisters' Moon (which we both quite liked), none of them have yet topped this. Recommended even to G5 naysayers.
Honestly, To Be Remembered is one of those fics I still have often second-thoughts about how high a rating I gave it. Especially as, when rereading its follow-up lately, it only got a Passable, which is a heavy drop, three whole ratings. Because it still is post-apocalyptic human war game-type clichés, what little we learn, at the end of the day. Possibly I overrated it further on just how great the Twilight/Spike relationship was, alongside the atmosphere. On top of the reading, of course. Also, I'll assume by you saying the fic couldn't be written now, you just mean in terms of when in canon it's set, being unable to take place once Twilight gets her wings, and also requiring mild AU against later "beyond Equestria" canon developments.
Bonus fact: the cover art is another pastiche of the grand library in Trinity College in Dublin (the most known pastiche being the Jedi archives in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones).
I did know that Trinity College fact from somewhere, probably either you as an Irishman or noted library fan iisaw!
DeleteI'll assume by you saying the fic couldn't be written now, you just mean in terms of when in canon it's set, being unable to take place once Twilight gets her wings, and also requiring mild AU against later "beyond Equestria" canon developments.
Yep. In terms of writing, it holds its own with the higher end of mid/late-2010s output. These days the writer would have to contrive some believable reason for there being a still unknown zone in Equestria where something like this could be discovered.
I remember To Be Remembered, which says a lot about it. :) According to my review (from five years ago; again, says something about it!), I had originally downvoted it before I actually started reviewing, and couldn't for the life of me figure out why. Maybe there's something to the reading pushing it over the top for me.
ReplyDeleteAnd doth I spy a familiar name for next week? o_o
Well indeed, Bicyclette is a very familiar name these days, what with all those contests Bike runs... ;)
DeleteI already discussed why on Mike's blog, but while I liked the concept behind "To be Remembered," several major conceits of the plot made no sense to me, and the writing itself had numerous problems, though it's got a newer chapter publication date than my notes on it, so it may have been revised since I read it.
ReplyDeleteI think I did see somewhere that it had been updated, but I can't find the comment in question now so don't take that as gospel.
DeleteTo Be Remembered seems to be a fic that lives up to it's title, as I too recall it fondly, and mostly (I think) for the Twilight/Spike relationship. It was a high 3/low four for me.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to be pretty consistently well liked, which isn't always the case.
Delete