Read it Later story count: 182 (+1)
I haven't really got a great deal to say in this space today. I know, I know, when did that ever stop me before? Let's get on to the week's three stories, though. Without those, you'd only have my ramblings to read here, and that really is not a fate I would wish on anybody. Today's trio:
The Wagon Repair Mare by Admiral Biscuit
Who We Are in the Dark by NaiadSagaIotaOar
A Package in the Rain by Church
★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 1
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.
OC
Slice of Life; 2k words; Nov 2018; Everyone
Wych Elm, a wagon repair mare, travels the streets of Manehattan, repairing or replacing wheels on wagons in distress.
I read this story in Admiral Biscuit's print anthology Fanfare for the Common Mare, though in that book the definite article is missing from its title. This is very much in the vein of the [Slice of Life] for which this author is perhaps best known. We're watching Wych Elm on a day's work in the big city, learning about what goes into her job and the kinds of ponies who are her customers. It feels very much like a "day in the life" documentary, because that's effectively what it is. Apparently Studs Terkel was an inspiration, though he's relatively little known here in the UK so the resonances passed me by. The fic is (as usual with AB) simply, clearly and effectively written, so how much you like it probably comes down to how much you like SoL in its purest form. ★★★
Who We Are in the Dark by NaiadSagaIotaOar
Adagio Dazzle, Rarity and Sunset Shimmer
Equestria Girls/Romance/Tragedy; 12k words; Feb 2018; Teen (Sex)
An RCL-inducted story, this one, so I had high hopes – which were met. The author takes a fascinating angle with post-Rainbow Rocks Adagio, in that without her gem she's terribly behind her peers in terms of learning to interpret human emotions; face-blindness is the closest thing in our world, but even that doesn't quite cover the way Adagio used to be able to grasp such emotions perfectly. One of those perfect, simple story ideas that everyone wishes they'd thought of when they read it. This is allied to an equally impressive story of the relationship between Adagio and Rarity (yes, she's the girlfriend) and how a phone conversation with Sunset Shimmer – it's significant that it is a phone call – sends things careering in a new direction that left me increasingly fearful of the consequences and in the end fully justifies that [Tragedy] tag. I'm not the only person to say this, but before I read this fic I didn't care too much about Adagio as a character, yet by the end I was right there with her, and it hurt. The sex isn't explicit (hence the T rating) but it's central to the story; the author handles this extremely well. My only mild irritation is that, given what Adagio's concerned about is explicitly mentioned in the description, the way the narrative remains coy about spelling it out for some time feels a little pointless. That's it, though. A rare occasion when I'll recommend an Equestria Girls story even to those who don't care for EqG. Ingenious, heartbreaking and brilliant. ★★★★★Adagio, who everyone knows is an immortal sex goddess, is determined to give her girlfriend a perfect eighteenth birthday. If only she weren't secretly a virgin, it would be easy.
A Package in the Rain by Church
Raindrops
Romance/Sad; 4k words; Sep 2012; Everyone
A melancholy, atmospheric tale told from Raindrops' perspective, in which we gradually learn about what the package is and who left it. Not everything is revealed, and we're left to read between the lines to some extent; I think that was a good decision. The story shows its age slightly in the way it uses a feature of the show's earlier seasons as a key plot point, but if you can look past that and the rather sledgehammer nature of rain/raindrops/sadness there's a solid one-shot here. Right on the two/three boundary for me, and by eventually placing it in the lower band I may be doing it a slight disservice having read it straight after being blown away by Who We Are in the Dark. It's worthwhile either way. ★★She left me a small package. Now it just sits out in the rain.
Next time on Ponyfic Roundup: stories reviewed should include Pascoite's In Bloom.
Church was nice. I miss that guy.
ReplyDeleteBefore my time, really; he doesn't seem to have been around since mid-2013, and for various reasons (largely unconnected with the fandom itself) I wasn't very active on Fimfiction that year. I expect I'll read another of his fics at some point, though.
DeleteHe made another account called Churchy. He has some stuff there. That's when he wrote in the Mailbox project with us.
DeleteAh, thank you. :) He's got The Collection there, but if he ever wrote anything else under that name, it's gone now.
DeleteI discovered Studs Terkel through him being one of the talking heads on Ken Burns' epic Baseball documentary, and count him as an influence too!
ReplyDeleteAn interesting crop this week, and always great to see the five stars being broken out. Thank you for another great roundup!
Heh, baseball documentaries are probably even less familiar to me than Mr Terkel. :P
DeleteYou're welcome, as always. I adore being able to give a five, but as you'd expect that happens quite rarely.
Yeah man, you need to read more Naiad, she's great. :D
ReplyDeleteIf this is remotely representative, I shall! Strange username,* but that doesn't bother me. Writing that good is always worth seeking out.
Delete* I understand it's an anagram, but I'm the world's worst anagrammist so don't bother trying. :P
I've never quite figured it out, myself, save that I know it's the name of her three favorite (MLP?) characters, and "Adagio" is clearly in there.
DeleteLooks like an anagram of Sonata, Aria, and Adagio.
DeleteAnd indeed I should have got that! Mind you, the other week my local meetup group (online-only at the moment, of course) held a quiz which had an anagram round. I managed the superb score of 0/5 on that section. :P
DeleteOne of the few Naiad stories I haven't read.
ReplyDeleteIf you're in the market for good EqG stories, the one of my own stories I consider the best is that genre. I think it's already on your RiL though, based on an exchange we had in the comments back in Ponyfic Roundup 190.
"Ambergris" will be up before Christmas, as it happens! Maybe in two weeks' time, depending on how I go.
DeleteAnd yes, I know that means two of your fics being reviewed in quick succession. I don't mind that, though thinking about it I may leave a blank week between them. Ambergris should still be covered this year, though.
DeleteI've been pronouncing Naiad's name as Saga Lota Oar for quite a few years but just now found out it's really Saga Iota (Eye-Ota) Oar. I discovered this upon downloading the story and changing the font to Times New Roman. It's hard to tell the difference with FIMFiction's sans serif fonts. I'm not sure which spelling you used since this site also uses an Arial typeface as well. Anyway, I'll be sure to read this one as it's so highly regarded.
ReplyDeleteWait, you're telling me she doesn't sag a lotta oars? :( Ouch, my worldview.
DeleteThis explains why I could never de-anagram her name. c.c
Aha! I did misread it (and so misrepresent it here) as a lower-case ell, when in fact it should be an upper-case eye. That's now been corrected; thanks!
DeleteThanks for the review! It always makes me happy when people say they went into this one not being the biggest Adagio fan. I've read quite too much fanfiction that seems under the impression bad things for a beloved character are intrinsically sad and don't do the work to actually convince me anything that's happening is worth caring about. So I tried with this one to really make it clear early on what the stakes were and how important stuff was to Adagio, which seems to have paid off.
ReplyDeleteI'm of two minds with regards to that one being the first of mine you've read. It's my favorite, so yay, but also quite possibly everything's downhill from there, if you do end up reading more of mine.
It certainly did pay off, at least for me. I was very impressed. (Well, obviously, given the rating, but still.) I'm not even that big an Equestria Girls fan in general, so an EqG story that's also about a character I can normally take or leave has to work doubly hard.
DeleteI read quite a lot of stories chosen by the RCL, hence this one being my first of yours. I find I usually at least broadly agree with the RCL assessors, though there have been exceptions.
(I have only just noticed the title says "pomy")
ReplyDeletePo! My fic roundup! :O
DeleteI was tempted to leave that for a moment...
Delete