Read it Later story count: 148 (-7)
Yes, the RiL list has finally made it below 150! I can't run to a fanfare, I'm afraid, but you're welcome to make one at home from old washing up liquid bottles. Not that much further now before I reach 100, at which point I'll stop trying to reduce it and start trying to keep it stable. We'll see how well that goes... I have three stories to look at today, at any rate. They are:
The Order by Bad_Seed_72
Derpy Gets Fired by GarlandGala
Demise Reprise by Chris
★: 0 | ★★: 0 | ★★★: 2 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.
Twilight, Flash Sentry, Celestia and OCs
Romance/Sad/Slice of Life/Alternate Universe; 12k words; Dec 2013; Teen
Flash Sentry loves Twilight from afar. She can never know of his love. She could never return it. The two could never be. Such is the order—the way things are supposed to be.
In this interesting AU Equestria, an inflexible caste system operates. Unicorns have more status than pegasi, and pegasi more than earth ponies. Flash, as a pegasus guard, feels this keenly – especially given his love of Princess Twilight. Still, he has other things to worry about, such as protecting Celestia from unhappy petitioners and protecting himself from his boss (not Shining Armor) – who also has his eye on Twilight. Can you buy the anathema-to-the-show caste-ridden setup? You need to, otherwise this fic will annoy you all through. I could, albeit with some effort, and so I could concentrate on its best feature: the interactions between Twilight and Flash. I didn't very much like Celestia's "the law is the law" character, however. There are a few rather forced lines ("separate, but..." stands out). I guess this works better as an AU Flash Sentry character study than as an Equestrian story, given the problems so many will have with its setting. Just about a three for me. ★★★
Derpy Gets Fired by GarlandGala
Derpy and Pinkie Pie
Romance/Comedy/Slice of Life; 3k words; Nov 2012; Teen
You don't see many DerpyPie shipfics! Here's one, from a long-gone author I'd never encountered before, and I'm pleased to say it's actually rather charming. Derpy is sacked for breaking a valuable package, and Pinkie takes her on as an assistant at Sugar Cube Corner. Although their affection grows a bit too quickly (hey, it's a 3k-word fic) it does so in a genuinely touching way – plus both ponies are quite well in character. We even get a short original ditty that doesn't make me want to scream. The fic could have done with a little tidying, as there are one or two odd word choices (eg "vacuous" to mean "echoingly empty") and some minor but unnecessary head hopping. Nevertheless, this is a significantly better story than I'd expected going in. Easy-reading fluff, but if that's what you want then this is certainly worth ten minutes of your time. Another that nudges into the threes. ★★★It's not easy being a little bit special. Sometimes it takes a different kind of somepony to love what's unique about you.
Demise Reprise by Chris
Rainbow Dash, Twilight and Mane Six
Comedy; 4k words; Aug 2020; Teen (Suicide/Self Harm, Death)
What. Yes, exactly. First up, accept that Rainbow Dash is incredibly stupid. All else follows from that. Happily, "all else" means a truly ludicrous and very funny fic in which Twilight and the girls are becoming increasingly fed up. Why? Because they keep having to traipse off to Tartarus to rescue their friend. (Why Tartarus? You tell me.) I always appreciate snappy dialogue, and there's a whole heap in here, including plenty of snark – not always from the expected quarters, either. A cleverly chosen ending, too. Of course, don't read this if you don't like any death in your fics, and in my version of English at least the title is only a visual rhyme – but otherwise I can't see any reason not to lap it up. It's stupid, but it's also stupidly funny. ★★★★Rainbow Dash kills herself. Again. And it's up to Twilight and the girls to bring her back. Again.
Next time on Ponyfic Roundup, stories reviewed should include Trick Question's RCL-inducted Chrysalis fic Motherly.
Good selection! I'd read Demise Reprise before, and while, going by your rating scale, I'd put it as more of a high 3-star then a low 4-star rating, your points are all agreeable. Funny stupid is a good way of putting that one.
ReplyDeleteI gave Derpy Gets Fired a read, and… yeah, it's decent early-fandom romantic fluff. I don't care much for that sort of stuff for the most part, but it can be a decent time-waster, and that's what this was. A bit shaky in the prose construction at times, but it goes by so quickly that it's worth a quick read, I suppose.
Also, good job on getting your RiL list down to sub-150! Doesn't seem so gargantuan now, eh? Well, unless there's tons of longfics on there, but you tend to read almost exclusively one-shots one here (or fics that are technically several chapters but are the length of one-shots, same thing, innit), so I doubt that.
You'd be surprised! Up until a year ago, I used to read... maybe not a lot of longer stories, but certainly more than I do now. And maybe not very long stories, but plenty of mid-length (30-70k words) fics. Unfortunately the last year has been so messed up, for obvious reasons, that I haven't got myself back to it. But I do actually have quite a few longer fics on the RiL list. I want to do a Spotlight on one of them fairly soon, actually, possibly during April and certainly this spring.
ReplyDeleteAs for my ratings this time, there's an element of personal preference in both the fics I allowed to nudge into a higher category. I'd had such low expectations of Derpy Gets Fired that I was delighted to find myself enjoying it quite a bit. And I've always liked the way Chris writes stories -- plus he's a nice guy as well, which never hurts!
I've read Chris's story and found it very amusing. Agree with the rating there. It was great stupid humor, and rather clever for stupid humor.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review, Logan (and for the nice words, Pasco and Mike)! Demise Reprise was a fun one to write, I doubt you'll be surprised to hear; a chance to dial up the snark a bit. And since you warned readers to "accept that Rainbow Dash is incredibly stupid," I am contractually obligated to point out that she is, in fact, my favorite main 6 pony. I mean, yes, she's also incredibly stupid in this fic, but that's just part of what makes her awesome.
ReplyDeleteRe: the title: I have lived my life up until today thinking that "re-PREEZ" was the musical term, and "re-PRIZE" was the non-musical one, but this isn't even a British English vs. New-And-Improved-English thing; there's just no prescriptivist agreement at all on how you're supposed to pronounce it. One more thing I didn't know I didn't know... anyway, thanks again for the review; seeing that you enjoyed it brightened up my day!
You're welcome! It brightened my day up to read a delightful piece of fun about a pony repeatedly dying. And yes, I did write that (the second, part, at least) just because I don't know when I'll next get the chance!
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