Read it Later story count: 95 (nc)
Words read this week: 24,498
This time around, it's one of the themed editions I'd promised in the run-up to Ponyfic Roundup 500. Today, I'm concentrating on everyone's favourite Number One Assistant, Spike! As several people have mentioned, he's tagged in a whole lot of fics, but often as a background character or even a bit of an afterthought. Not so here: Spike is central or at the very least important to the story in each and every one.
How to Hug a Five-Hundred-Foot Tall Dragon by somatic
An Old Coot by Bachiavellian
Super Amazing Rocket Sled of Awesome by The Descendant
Sparkles and Scales by Winter Quill
Words on a Page by Tranquil Serenity
★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 4 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.
How to Hug a Five-Hundred-Foot Tall Dragon by somatic
Spike and Twilight
G4; Comedy/Slice of Life; 3k words; May 2016; Everyone
Spike makes a gift for his best friend, and it's a doozy.
This author's bio states, "I write fluff and sadness." Happily there's more of the former than the latter in this sweet little tale. Titanium Dragon quite liked it, largely on the grounds of its being cute fluff as promised. It's set well into the future, and the occasional glimpses at a more industralised Equestria are interesting without being intrusive. More pertinently, it's a nice look at what has changed and what hasn't between Twilight and Spike several centuries on. Infuriatingly, a longer sequel breaks off one chapter from the end. This, however, is fine. It isn't complex, but it's not trying to be, and for what it is I think it does a solid job. As such, into the threes it goes. ★★★
An Old Coot by Bachiavellian
Spike, OC, Celestia and Luna
G4; Drama/Sad/Slice of Life; 9k words; Jul 2015; Everyone
Spike's eleven year nap is interrupted by a little filly in his treehouse...
A popular fic in its day (over 21,000 views), this story came third in the "A Matter of Perspective" Writeoff. It's well written, but I wouldn't expect any less from this author. The story is the interesting part, since that little filly, Magnolia, turns out to be related to somepony very significant from many moons ago. Spike himself bears a serious grudge against somepony, so don't expect the happy little guy of old. I like Magnolia and her interactions with Spike, and it's an interesting character piece – all the more so as Twilight isn't on the scene, something which is significant to the story. You'll need to be patient with slowish plot development, and to accept an ending that (by authorly design) leaves something hanging, but it's nice to see Spike handled well in tandem with someone other than Twilight. A pretty solid three for me. ★★★
Super Amazing Rocket Sled of Awesome by The Descendant
Spike, Twilight and Pipsqueak
G4; Comedy/Slice of Life; 7k words; Dec 2011; Everyone
Twilight uses her magic so that Spike's Super Amazing Rocket Sled of Awesome lives up to its name.
By a distance the oldest fic this week, but I can hardly have a Spike edition without a story by a guy known for his attention to the little dragon – and especially regarding Spike's relationship with Twilight. Seeing the sled(ge)¹ he's saved so hard for not quite work as intended, Twi secretly adds a little magical pizazz. Will it be enough to rival Pip's own conveyance up in the hills around Ponyville? As usual with The Descendant, the lovely depiction of Spike and Twi's early-series closeness is the main draw. The second half moves from cosy slice-of-life to fun light comedy and does so more successfully than many stories of this age. In spite of being set in the snow, this story's one-word summary would be "warm"; this is a good choice for "just let FiM-ness wash over you" folks. A decent three-star rating seems right here. ★★★
¹ Yes, there's a reason I did that...
Sparkles and Scales by Winter Quill
Twilight, Spike and Dragons
G4 AU; Slice of Life; 5k words; Sep 2018; Everyone
Twilight Sparkle is the Element of Magic, the personal student of Princess Celestia... and a dragon, but it hadn't always been that way.
Spike is a secondary character in this story, but he's a significant one from the start in spite of not being named until almost two thousand words in. In this AU, you see, Twilight's spell at Celestia's School species-swapped the two. This is a fascinating idea, and there are some potentially intriguing differences from canon to consider – Spike becomes an earth pony, for one, and Twilight retains unicorn magic despite now being a dragon. However, it falls down in that it's a great setup but a heavily underexplored one: a lot of it is just S1 FiM snapshots with Spike and Twi swapped. It's also a pity there's a fair bit of rushed exposition near the end. I can't go above a middling two stars, disappointing given what a deeper look at the species-swap's consequences might have done. There is a sequel, but as that was last updated in December 2021 I have to treat Sparkles and Scales as a one-off. ★★
Words on a Page by Tranquil Serenity
Spike and Starlight
G4; Slice of Life; 1k words; Nov 2018; Everyone
Spike finds something interesting while cleaning. Something he never thought somepony would treat so poorly.
What Spike discovers is a book. Hardly unusual given where he lives, but this book has been hidden under Starlight's bed. Reading it, he gets a bit of a surprise. It's hard to say much about this one without giving away too much, but you'll probably guess where it's going. The thing is, you may not be right about that. I wasn't, and I was pleasantly surprised by the denouement, having expected a different and frankly overused approach, though that may just be me. That ending nudges this above the two/three line in my, ahem, book. ★★★
So, no blockbusters but no disasters either. An okay return. Next time, it's going to be my first Author Spotlight since I did one for mushroompone more than a year ago, back in PR 435. Next week, as trailed already, it will be the one and only FanOfMostEverything in the spotlight. Here are the fics I've chosen – note that I have deliberately picked standalone stories, so there'll be no out-and-out Magic: The Gathering crossovers and nothing set in the world of Oversaturation. Here's the list:
Go South, Young Mare by FanOfMostEverything
Shoeshine and the Khaki Maniac by FanOfMostEverything
The Glaring Gaffes of Gabby Gums by FanOfMostEverything
Time Enough for Friendship by FanOfMostEverything
A Mad Glimmer by FanOfMostEverything
I read the first three of those, which may be a record for one blogpost. I liked the first but was underwhelmed a bit by the ending, which understandably leads to the sequel but still feels anticlimactic for this one. The other two were both very enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteIf only the sequel had been finished, but I suppose that's the case for an awful lot of stories...
DeleteOoh, a hat trick of "I've read them all already"! :O Some good stuff in here, too!
ReplyDeleteI've read these all already, too! :o
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