Comic review: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic issue #25

Price's A cover just beat out Richard's B for me

The latest arc in the My Little Pony main series, "The Good, the Bad and the Ponies", is a two-part Cook/Price/Breckel affair – and so will be the following one, apparently. I have somewhat mixed feelings about that: these guys have produced some wonderful comics over the time they've been doing it, but I am getting a bit irritated with their clear lack of interest in the pegasi. Fluttershy especially, of course, but Rainbow Dash doesn't tend to get much love, either. Is it better this time round? Let's see.

Ponyfic Roundup 32

Like an idiot, a feature I would really love to be added to FimFiction slipped my mind when Knighty asked for suggestions the other day. To wit: I'd like to have a small memo space (50 characters would be enough) by each story on my "Read Later" list, so I can remind myself of why I added it. For example, noting the identity of the person who'd recommended it. I do have a "Notes" column in Calibre, but this would be much more straightforward.

But back to the task in hoof. This week, as usual, there are five stories under consideration. It's not the most exciting edition of PR for those who like to see either astounding brilliance or astounding incompetence in their reading, but I'd imagine at least one or two of these will suit most tastes.

Pick of the fics

A Teacher with No Class by Kavonde
Blueblood, Cheerilee, CMC, Diamond Tiara and Dinky
Comedy/Slice of Life; 5K words; Aug 2012; Everyone
The author of An Outsider's Perspective (PR 27) had a hit with this Blueblood comedy in 2012. A special guest speaker comes to talk about government to Cheerilee's class... and it's the Royal Pain himself. This is lots of fun for most of its length, but with a twist near the end into a very different type of story. A few small quibbles (even in a 2012 fic, do we really need a description of the CMC?) but certainly worth a tea break. 8/10

Other stories

Dictated, Not Read by device heretic
Twilight, Celestia and Others
Sad/Slice of Life; 3K words; Jun 2012; Everyone
The author has apparently long since departed FimFic after some before-my-time drama, but at least they left us this. (Yes, and Eternal, I know...) Twilight's latest letter to Celestia is a little out of the ordinary, as she discusses a disliked Hearth's Warming gift from long ago. Really rather affecting. The only reason this doesn't score higher is that Twi's bitterness towards her parents seems a little over-the-top for her, especially in the circumstances of the story (vague because spoilers). 8/10

The Light in the Darkness by zaptiftun
Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Mane Six
Slice of Life; 5K words; Mar 2012; Everyone
A RainPie hurt/comfort friendshipping story. Dash comes home of an evening to find Pinkie in a dreadful state after a nightmare – one which bears a (deliberately) close resemblance to a certain infamous Pinkiefic of yore. A few typos and overlong paragraphs, while an our-world reference feels odd, even for a Pinkie story, but it's not disastrous. Does show its age, but not always in a bad way. 6.5/10

That Familiar Pain by Nightroad
Fluttershy and Twilight
Sad; 2K words; May 2013; Everyone
Fluttershy is always sad when Mother's Day rolls around – but this year, she's going to tell her wife (unicorn Twilight) just why. That's actually my main problem: it doesn't convince that Fluttershy, seven years into that relationship, would not have told Twi something as important as this. A comment about Rarity's mother is also unbelievable. Deliberately written without any direct speech, which mostly works but does feel forced at times. Still, quite readable on its own terms, so 5/10.

A True, True Friend? by Blazewing
Spike, Luna and Mane Six
Sad/Slice of Life; 9K words; Apr 2014; Everyone
Spike has finally had enough of not being invited when the Mane Six go to have fun, and ends up talking over his feelings with Princess Luna before confronting Twilight. It's a little sledgehammer with the "Spike deserves better" message in places, while the resolution is awfully convenient and drags on slightly, but it's still worth a look, especially for fans of the little dragon. 7/10

Not-actually-new story by me: "By the Seashore"

This was taken in northern Scotland, believe it or not

I never actually got round to posting about this little story when I wrote it. It's a simple, hopefully gently amusing, friendshipping piece which plays around with a notion stemming from something mentioned almost in passing in a show episode.

By the Seashore by Loganberry
Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Other
Slice of Life; 1K words; Sep 2014; Everyone
Harry the bear is vacationing in his favourite spot: a nice, quiet beach. Fluttershy decides to pay him a visit and persuades Rainbow Dash to accompany her – but why is it so important for the two of them to go digging around in the sand before they reach Harry's place?

Accolades and aspirations

Haven picked up second place (out of ten entries, of which at least eight were serious attempts) in the Weekly Contests flash fiction contest. I'm quite pleased with that, since I did wonder whether my decision to go all-out with the coloured text might count against it. It also maintains my record of never having actually won a ponyfic writing contest of any kind. :P

Meanwhile, We Who with Songs Beguile was accepted into Twilight's Library, the fourth of my stories to achieve that status. I would have been quite disappointed if it hadn't been accepted, actually: it's not a work of staggering genius, but I think it meets all TL's requirements well enough. And it did hold up decently against some very high-powered competition, which is more than I've managed before!

I'm currently working on a short story (I know, amazing, isn't it?) for the Hearth's Warming Heart-Warming Contest organised by The MLP Fan Club!!!! group. Yes, that's how they style themselves. I'm rather attracted by the idea of writing something simple and cute, since I don't often go down that route with ponyfic. I've never entered a contest in this group before, so I don't know what they like, but we'll see!

Comic review: MLP Friends Forever #11: Spitfire and Rainbow Dash

The foals are based on G1 ponies: Melody bottom left, Heart Throb bottom right, etc

Been a while, hasn't it? You can blame that on the autumn cold that's been attacking me. I know there's already another comic out after this one, and I will try to catch up. Anyway, here's Friends Forever issue #11. Yes, it's written by Ted Anderson, so if that's a red line to you then I'll see you next time. For the rest of us, this RainFire team-up (hey, better than SpitDash!) brings a new artist to the scene in the shape of Jay Fosgitt. This'll be a fairly short review on account of my health, so let's go:

Ponyfic Roundup 31: Special Edition

Way back in the summer, I started to read what (if it's ever finished) will be a quite enormous cycle of 12 books by "Imploding Colon", one of shortskirtsandexplosions' alt accounts. Austraeoh is the first book in the sequence. It has over 15,000 views and a votes ratio of +1,297/-46, but does it deserve such a stellar following and reputation? It took me months, but I did finish it:

Austraeoh by Imploding Colon
Rainbow Dash
Random/Adventure/Alternate Universe; 213K words; Oct 2012; Teen
The sum total of the description for this story is "Rainbow Dash flies east." The rest only becomes clear as the story progresses. It's a highly episodic story, with only a thin (though important) thread of connecting narrative. Scenes vary between imaginative and dull, gripping and annoying. At its best, the world-building is fascinating. Horribly overblown language early on thankfully settles down, but sadly the proofreading doesn't: far too many typos and weird word choices. (My favourite is a character "strolling icily".) Not even close to the greatest fanfic I've read, but worth ploughing through if you like world-building and episodic adventures with OCs – and have a high tolerance for Rainbow Dash. 6.5/10

All right. Now for my more detailed thoughts: these will contain lots of spoilers. If that doesn't matter to you, read on...

Austraeoh review coming up on Wednesday

I'm no longer doing the "Awards" posts every ten issues of Ponyfic Roundup. They seemed pretty pointless given that I score fics, and nobody seemed to care for them anyway. Even me. So, instead, PR 31 will be a special devoted to one fic: Imploding Colon's 213K-word story, Austraeoh. Those of you who want to see me rip shreds in a famous and highly-rated fic will get partial satisfaction, but don't expect a total evisceration. More on Wednesday!

(Also, I now have the Rainbow/Spitfire Friends Forever comic. Review of that coming this week, too.)