New story by me: "It Doesn't Matter Now"

"If you are sad or blue..."

I do now have the Fluttershy/Iron Will Friends Forever comic, so a review of that will be along during the next few days. Meanwhile, here's a little something I knocked up for a UK of Equestria writing contest (this one had a free prompt). It's short even by my standards at barely 1,300 words, but I think it turned out okay given that I had to write it in a couple of hours.

It Doesn't Matter Now by Loganberry
Pinkie Pie and OC
Random; 1K words; Oct 2014; Everyone
The Spirit Pony is responsible for the End of All That Ever Was. It has always been so. This job looks like being a particularly clean one – until a certain pink pony intervenes to prevent it happening. Pinkie has a very, very good reason for stopping the Spirit, too...

Ponyfic Roundup 27: Outside Insight finalists, 3/4

I wonder why so many people capitalise every word in their story titles? I was always taught not to do that. (That's why my fic's title is We Who with Songs Beguile.) Anyway, we're back with the Equestria Daily "Outside Insight" finalists, and there are another five stories to consider this week. Like last time, there wasn't one story that stood head and shoulders above the rest, but this week's winner triumphed on the simple basis that it was the fic I enjoyed the most.

Pick of the fics

An Outsider's Perspective by Kavonde
OC and Mane Six
Comedy/Slice of Life; 5K words; Jul 2014; Everyone
I'm perhaps not quite as much of a Lovecraft fan as quite a few of my fellow ponyficcers seem to be – but this story is just too enjoyable to pass up. It really is an alien POV, that of an eldritch abomination with eyes and tentacles to spare who just happens to be the being that will bring about the end of all things. And, of course, winds up in Ponyville. It's quite ridiculous: maybe not as much about ponies as some other fics, but as I said, too much fun to say no to. A comedy that's actually funny! Also, I'm impressed at the author's willpower in not allowing Pinkie Pie to dominate proceedings. 8/10

Other stories

Gazebo by NotARealPonydotcom
OC and Changelings
Romance; 6K words; Aug 2014; Everyone
Two ponies shelter from the rain in a gazebo. Except that one of them is a changeling. They talk a lot. Things happen. But not many. This is a Romance, and that in itself was a nice change of pace, but I didn't really buy the changeling-integration background or (rather more crucially) the budding relationship itself. A little nugget of moderately imaginative mythology is spoiled by a truly horrible name-drop. Believe me, you'll groan too when you get to it. Also, Manehattan: that spelling is canon now, so lump it. Otherwise technically fine: it just didn't move me. 5.5/10

Hello, My Name Is by LoyalLiar
Changelings, Chrysalis and Luna
Comedy; 6K words; Aug 2014; Teen
It's always fun to read an entry that has a sarcastic protagonist constantly complaining about ponies' shortcomings. (Hey, why do you think I wrote mine that way?) It's another changeling story – this time, he's disguised as Luna's banker (sort of) in the run-up to that attempted invasion of Canterlot – but it generally works well. An early reference involving the bank's name is poor: much too forced. And "scowling at high society over a discrete flask"? But most of the rest is great. Another genuinely funny comedy, and that's worth a lot. 7.5/10

Not In Bluff Nor Bravado Nor Loneliness by Vivid Syntax
Iron Will and OCs
Slice of Life; 7K words; Aug 2014; Everyone
Iron Will is among the antagonists I actually rather like, so I was pleased to see this: it's pretty much the minotaur's life story, from his days as a bullied weakling at school, to how he began his adult career and beyond. Yes, we do get a little bit of "Putting Your Hoof Down", but it's kept refreshingly short. Some nice interaction with actual ponies (one in particular) helped this to hold my attention. A few annoying typos ("their" for "they're" twice being the worst) but all in all, I enjoyed this one. 7.5/10

That Orange Colt With The Bare Wings by BlndDog [sic]
Diamond Dogs and OC
Dark/Slice of Life; 6K words; Aug 2014; Teen (Gore)
A grumbling diamond dog is dumped with a captured young pony to raise and train for heavy mine work. This story does well on the "alien perspective" factor: to ponies (and us) the colt's fate is horrifying, yet the otherwise fairly sympathetic central character pretty much ignores that aspect. A lot is left unexplained, which sometimes works nicely in the fic's claustrophobic underground setting – but I did find the ending rather unsatisfying. Another story that would have benefited from a good proofread to catch small typos. 6.5/10

My Little Pony feature film in the works for 2017!

I don't really think I need to add any more than that! Well, apart from a link to the Variety article that broke the story.

No, really. That's all you get. Honestly, isn't the news enough on its own without my posting a pointless load of babble to go with it? ;)

Comic review: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic issue #24

"It's all chaosy-waosy, really..."

Apologies for this review being quite so late: for some reason (I don't know what it was) IDW failed to get its My Little Pony comics to UK distributors until a full week after they were released in the US. This happened once before, in the comic's early days, but it's always a pain and I hope it was just a blip. Happily, Level Seven Comics really pushed the boat out to get it to me as fast as possible. Anyway, this month we saw the first collaboration between writer Jeremy Whitley and artist Brenda Hickey. With stalwart Heather Breckel doing the colouring, would issue #24 prove a hit?

Ponyfic Roundup 26: Outside Insight finalists, 2/4

Here's my second batch of reviews of the 22 (other) finalists in this summer's EqD "Outside Insight" contest. I'm discussing six stories this time round and, once again, there's quite a range in scores. I'm fairly sure about my choice for this week's Pick, but it wasn't the supremely obvious decision that I was able to make last time round.

Pick of the fics

Rise by Blueshift
Breezies, Apple Bloom and Twilight
Adventure; 15K words; Aug 2014; Everyone
To the Breezies, ponies are the enemy: agents of summer shutdown and even death. Young Misty's coming-of-age Quest may change that. My liking for Adventure fics is well known, and this one also has some brilliant world-building. There are also moments of heart-rending emotion: I found myself impressively offended by some elements of Breezie culture. Mostly wonderfully paced, and this was heading for a 9+ rating for a while, but the story only just slipped inside both time and word-count limits, and that does show a little in the slightly-too-quick resolution. 8.5/10

Other stories

I Am Demon by Aquaman
Characters
OCs and Others; 16K words; Aug 2014; Teen
This fic won the EqD contest outright. It doesn't win mine! Don't get me wrong: it's a superb feat of imaginative writing in terms of showing ponies (Clover the Clever especially) from a truly different perspective. However, the gimmick of using colours to represent Demon's emotions becomes increasingly trying as the number of those emotions increases: I simply can't fully enjoy a story that's as hard on my eyes as this. Immensely clever, but I can't help feeling dialling down on that a bit might actually have made this story even more impressive. 8/10

The Last Trumpet's Call by Cold in Gardez
OCs
Adventure; 15K words; Aug 2014; Teen
A gryphon [sic] goes to Cloudsdale to talk to his dead army friend's (Cirrus) family. This is one of my favourite genres, written by one of the best writers in the fandom. It shines brilliantly in terms of imagery, and I loved discovering how vital a weather pegasus could be for the military. So why doesn't it win for me? Partly, it has the same problem Pride did: I just don't really like militaristic gryphons, so the enjoyment factor is inevitably slightly limited. Cirrus's fate was a tad predictable, too. A truly wonderful last line, though. 8/10

Little Apple by Oroboro
Winona, Apple Bloom and CMC
Slice of Life; 4K words; Aug 2014; Everyone
This tale of Winona's relationship with (mostly) Apple Bloom is a good example of a solid story that didn't really grab me. Maybe I just don't find Winona a massively engaging protagonist, though Skywriter's Sun Princess (PR 6) got a decent enough score. Returning to this story, it has a slightly gimmicky style involving the use of bold: I actually thought this might have been too restrained, so much so that it didn't contribute much to my enjoyment. The climax is quite involving, but nothing made me go "Wow!" 6.5/10

What Do Ponies Call Stockholm Syndrome? by CogWing
Discord and Fluttershy
Comedy/Random; 2K words; Jul 2014; Everyone
"You can't write speech like this." I said. "Really, you can't." I continued. Ahem... I often like this pairing, but this story just didn't work for me, even aside from the aforementioned technical issue. I found Discord far more annoying than engaging, and Fluttershy rather forgettable. Apart from one hilarious phrase consisting of the same word five times running (seriously, it works) I was never caught by this fic. Also, if you're going to use the word "Brony" in a ponyfic for any reason at all, you need to make that story amazingly good. 4/10

Wisp by rockyrobben
OC, Twilight, Celestia, Blueblood and Fancy Pants
Slice of Life; 12K words; Aug 2014; Teen
My goodness, this one could have done with better proofreading. "Pegasi" in the singular? "Filly's" for "fillies"? There were more. The idea of using a... consciousness as POV character was one I found absolutely intriguing, and I was really interested by the concept of The Well. However, it's not exactly a rollicking ride and I did find my attention wandering several times, notably in chapter two. I wasn't massively taken with the Twilight stuff, either. Thanks partly to the poor editing, 6/10.

UK PonyCon 2014 report

My haul of ponyana from the con. Not bad for one day!

Well, things didn't go quite to plan as far as UK PonyCon was concerned. Ill health meant that I was only able to attend on the Saturday, but I still had a very good time. I'd go so far as to say that it might even have been more enjoyable than BUCK – and that takes some doing! Certainly, if this convention is held somewhere I can easily get to next year, there's a very good chance that I'll try to get myself there.

The venue for this con was the Mercure "The Grand" Hotel in the middle of Leicester. I hugely prefer city-centre locations, as being able to walk from the station, or nip out to the pub for lunch is great. (On that last note, "The Last Plantagenet" was about 50 yards away. Perfect!) The venue was really nice, a posh four-star Victorian place with a sense of character and presence sorely lacking in the big boxy exhibition hall that was Manchester Central.

As an all-gens affair with a strong base of collectors, unsurprisingly there were a lot of vendor stalls. The range was much wider than at BUCK, and prices were generally quite reasonable by con standards. The main hall was home to both the vendors and the main stage, so it did get very crowded on occasion, most notably during the cosplay catwalk. For the most part, though, I thought it was nice that the vendors weren't tucked away from the main con action.

The atmosphere was lovely. Seriously, I was blown away by it. Immensely friendly, warm, welcoming and inclusive. A huge range of attendees, from little kids with their parents right up to pensioners. The bronies, collectors and families all rubbed along well, and I didn't hear one single complaint from one group about another the entire day. It may have been slightly understaffed, but despite this the con people remained unfailingly helpful and polite.

This year's theme was "Ponies Rock!" and live music was provided by The Rainbooms, an (actually rather good) rock band formed by several of the staff members. We had the FiM theme, "Sweet Music" from G1 Tales, "Babs Seed" and the inevitable (though still welcome!) "Helping Twilight Win the Crown". There was maybe a little too much recorded music at other times, though, which did make one or two conversations with stall-holders awkward.

I only attended one panel, "G1 for Bronies, G4 for Oldies", but that was very well presented: the person doing it was easily heard and seen even at the back of the room. She also very calmly and pleasantly nipped in the bud a potentially tiresome and rather esoteric discussion between two audience members about IP. I didn't actually go to the karaoke, though, as they hadn't really got their mics and speakers working well.

The only real criticism I'd make, other than the crowding, was that some people paying cash on the day seemed to be allowed to go in before those of us who'd pre-booked tickets. We'd been told this wouldn't happen, and it was disappointing. But otherwise, UK PonyCon 2014 was a really excellent convention. An easy 9/10 and I would love to have been able to have stayed for the whole weekend. Maybe next time!

Almost time for UK PonyCon!

I'll be spending this weekend in Leicester for UK PonyCon. It'll be something new for me, in that it will be the first event I've been to that's aimed at fans and collectors of all generations of My Little Pony. I really don't know quite what to expect, but it helps that I will know some of my fellow attendees from elsewhere, either BUCK or regular meetups. I won't be doing the photojournalism bit this time, but there will be some sort of text-based report when I get back. :)