Read it Later story count: 159 (-7)
I've made quite a dent in my RiL list this week, but as you'll note that's not because I've reviewed any more stories. It's simply that I've transferred a few extra fics to my phone for future reading. It'll be several months yet before I can sit in the garden to read, but it is now nice to sit in a south-facing room on a bright day with the sun slanting in. Right, today's three fics are:
Feathers by Flutterpriest
She Is Why I Drink by Tethered-Angel
Practice and Patience by Matthew Penn
★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.
Windy Whistles, Bow Hothoof and Twilight
Dark/Drama; 2k words; Jan 2018; Teen (Death, Suicide/Self Harm)
When the pegasi lose their feathers, they also lose the ability to walk on clouds. The answer to 'why' is lost to time. The real question is... what happens to Cloudsdale?
This story, Flutterpriest's RCL entry, is about... a highly infectious virus. Oh joy. Still, I tried not to let that affect my enjoyment or assessment. It's certainly a very interesting story and one that only works in Equestria, since what the virus does is to strip pegasi of their feathers – thus leaving those in Cloudsdale in terrible danger. Their furniture is enchanted, so if they sit tight they'll be safe... except that the wait for rescue may be a very long and scary one. Some pegasi can't cope and... well, that second content warning tag is there for a reason. What I found really interesting here was that Flutterpriest took Rainbow's parents, ponies who we know from canon as over-the-top exuberant and (mostly) happy, and dropped them into a potentially existential crisis. Not just existential for them, when you think about it. That's something that gradually dawned on me, and which I found impressive. Oh, and don't get spoiled on the last line. It has force. It's weird reading this at a time when we are experiencing a major health emergency, but if you aren't avoiding stories on such issues right now I'd recommend this one. ★★★★
She Is Why I Drink by Tethered-Angel
Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna
Equestria Girls/Sad/Slice of Life; 1k words; Mar 2017; Teen
When I started this, I was expecting a rather dull "Principal Celestia is a boozer!" fic. Happily, it proved to be somewhat more interesting than that, although the headcanon revealed near the end is likely to divide opinion. I quite like Celestia's dialogue with her sister, too. My only real complaint is that this feels like the first chapter of a longer story, rather than a complete tale in its own right – and there's no sequel, so the feeling of incompleteness remains. Three stars if you like reading scenes, two if you need something rounder. I like scenes, so a three for me. ★★★Principal Celestia is haunted by an inner demon. Her solution is in the locked drawer of her desk.
Practice and Patience by Matthew Penn
CMCs and Other [not really; see review]
Slice of Life; 6k words; Sep 2017; Everyone
See that description? That's the story. Nothing wrong with the premise, and I like the way that not all the CMC get to do what they really want. This feels very much like a fairly early-series story, with its domestic focus and the Crusaders coming across as quite young. I'm not really sure why this fic has the [Other] character tag, since the Mane Sixers named in the description are easily the most prominent. The writing isn't especially polished, with mismatches like "...then stood aside to see what she can do" rather frequent. A reasonable time-passer, though. ★★Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie have so much to teach the Cutie Mark Crusaders when they volunteer for their first Winter Wrap Up.
Next time on Ponyfic Roundup, stories reviewed should include Skywriter's Philomeanie.
Interesting to see another pandemic fic (pandemfic?) in the list - and it sounds intriguing too, I'll definitely check it out!
ReplyDeleteA very good point, too, about real world parallels in the current climate. I understand that some readers may really not want such allusions in their escapist time, but I kind of feel the opposite, that I like seeing ponies going through the same issues we are, and their writers' different perspectives on how they do that and so on.
Another great roundup, thank you!
Well, you demonstrated very effectively yourself how real-world parallels could be made to work excellently in ponyfic. I knew what I was in for that time in that regard, though, and so it was a bit less of an unpleasant surprise!
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