Quick note to the person who uses "aftermath" a lot in their comments

You're welcome to comment, of course, but I do ask that people who use the "Anonymous" option when commenting provide some sort of a name to use so I can keep track of who commented what and don't reply to a completely different person using "Anonymous" – there is more than one. Just putting something like "--Logan" (using your name instead) in plain text at the bottom of your comment is totally fine.

 You don't have to use your real name, it's absolutely fine to use a pseudonym if you want, but I'm not going to respond to someone who comments without any kind of name at all. Thanks! :)

Ponyfic Roundup 490

Read it Later story count: 93 (+1)

Words read this week: 30,858

I saw the Northern Lights for the first time ever last Friday night. They weren't incredibly spectacular – let me tell you, those photos you see of the aurora blazing away above Birmingham or something as though it were bright enough to cast shadows are often very long exposures and/or enhanced within an inch of their lives. That is definitely not what I saw with the naked eye! I don't care, though: I'd never seen the Lights at all before, and the experience was magical. Talking of magic, it's ponyfic time!

Lunch with Fluttershy by iisaw
Twilight Sparkle at the Gate of Heavenly Peace by Cold in Gardez
The Runaway... Ears?... by Lulamoon-Crystal
Stone Cold Justice by Featherstroke
Doused Flame by heartlessons

★: 1 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 2 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

Gemini writes ponyfic

Kind of prompted by iisaw's recent blog post, it's AI ponyfic time again! A new challenger has entered the fray. Well, not new as it's been around for a while now, but Google's Gemini hasn't been featured in this series before. I've kept the same prompt from last time, though with a slight addition at the end:

Please write a My Little Pony story (with a suitable title) in which Fluttershy and Rarity discuss a sensitive issue over a cup of tea. The two ponies are very long-standing friends and trust each other completely. Both of them are quiet conversationalists, so the conversation should have a restrained emotional tone. However, the much brasher Rainbow Dash barges into the cottage halfway through. Please remember that readers will already be very familiar with these characters, and so don't need reminders of their basic personalities.

Past the page break for the story – and it's one of the odder entries. There's some interesting stuff here, and Gemini has handled a few elements quite well compared with most if not all of its predecessors. It even came up with a title that wasn't in the usual tedious "A Delicate Conversation" line. However, it has a bad case of ellipsis addiction, and more seriously it completely failed to include a rather significant part of the prompt...

Sounds of 2014: Nos. 80 to 76

It's been a little bit too long since I last posted a "Sounds of 2014" entry, so let's do something about that today. Before I get to the actual music, here's the usual reminder of the criteria I use to decide whether to feature a track:

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.

No skips this week, I'm happy to inform you! We also have a double bill from one artist, someone who remains very well known in the fandom to this day. Indeed, the overall roster of artists here is quite a heavyweight one.

80: Foozogz – You've Got The Music (Foozogz DELIGHT MIX)
79: Aviators – The Party Song
78: Vylet Pony ft. LilyCloud – Fall to the Clouds
77: Vylet Pony ft. LilyCloud – Starcrossed
76: MandoPony – Away in the Sky

Past the jump break, there'll be the usual collection of YouTube embeds and Loganish rambles.

Ponyfic Roundup 489

Read it Later story count: 92 (-5)

Words read this week: 27,709

Pickled onion flavour crisps. Why are they so damn good? And no, this is not the shortdesc of a forthcoming ponyfic, though possibly it could be. For someone. In some alternate universe where crispfics are unaccountably popular. Anyway, a rather lower word count this week than has mostly been the case in recent times, but still more than enough to cover five stories. Look below to see what they are.

Does a cyborg have a soul? by GrayOnBlue
Movements of Fire and Shadow by Inquisitor M
The 2,000 Year Friendship by DaeCat
Angel Crashes a Wedding by Prak
Velvet Quill & Sunny Skies by Sledge115

★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 2 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

My Little Repeats 162: "It Isn't the Mane Thing About You"

"Now Pinkie Pie, I must insist that you do not yell 'What a twist!'"

S7E19: "It Isn't the Mane Thing About You"

16 Sep 2017

My original rating: ★★★★
IMDb score: 7.9

The one with the anniversary of the Cake twins' first sneezes

Thoughts: I wonder how many people see this episode's name and think, "Punk Rarity!" – but don't remember many more details than that? I suspect quite a few. Even me, despite liking this a lot seven years ago. Perhaps a little more than most, but many did at least enjoy it – this ep did quite well in Text Review Roundup. Now, though? Well, I still enjoy it, even if it is an episode you probably don't want to examine too forensically. Right at the end, I'm not sure it's a great lesson for kids (especially in the social media age) that it's fine to send photos to be published without the subject's knowledge. Zecora's out-of-nowhere stuff about how mane magic is especially hard doesn't jibe¹ with Trixie doing it in "Boast Busters", either. Josh Haber, innit – but at least this episode still works in the "Is it fun?" stakes. It's nice that secondary characters (Zecora herself, Carrot Top, Mr Breezy, Davenport, Filthy Rich...) get significant speaking roles. Pinkie is fun. The Flower Trio's colourful stall is nice. And yes, Punk Rarity does look pretty cool. Four stars might have been slightly over the top, but it's still getting a pretty solid three. Despite its faults, I still like this one.
¹ Admission time: I had to check it should be "jibe" here, not "jive"...

Choice quote: Rarity: "One shouldn't have to brave the darkest part of the forest for shampoo."

New rating: ★★★

Next up is "A Health of Information", which was my favourite Pillars episode, and which featured Fluttershy in a good central role. Okay, so those two things probably aren't entirely unrelated...

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!