Read it Later story count: 143 (-2)
Fresh from the excitement (if that's the right word) of seeing other people commenting on one of my stories, I'm now returning to commenting on other people's stories. Three of them as usual this time, although one seems to have decided it needs the space for about four separate titles:
A Stallion for the Time Being by Sharp Spark
NO NO NO NO NO WE HATE HIM WE ALL HATE HIM GOSH DARNIT NO JUST DON'T by Aragon (because of course it is)
Fireproof by Raugos
★: 0 | ★★: 0 | ★★★: 2 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.
Minuette and Twilight
Romance/Comedy; 21k words; Jul 2013; Teen
Minuette wants a date to actually go well for once. Princess Twilight Sparkle wants her to stop screwing around with time travel.
Sharp Spark's RCL entry has a clever title, though to say exactly why would be spoilery. The first part of this fic sees Minuette manipulating time to try to get a vaguely enjoyable date. I found it a whole lot of fun, and the little details of how Minny's dates behave are generally pretty amusing. Later on, when Twilight decides on a rather startling approach to helping Minuette – magically turning herself into a stallion – the romantic angle begins to take over. I didn't find this part quite as involving, though that may just be that it takes a lot to make Rule 63 interesting to me. This still generally manages it, though, and it helps that we learn quite a bit about Twilight in the process. One event in a restaurant rubbed me up the wrong way, but not enough to derail the story as a whole. Just remember that this was written before "Amending Fences", so Minuette's personality is not much like the one she eventually got in canon. ★★★★
NO NO NO NO NO WE HATE HIM WE ALL HATE HIM GOSH DARNIT NO JUST DON'T by Aragon
Octavia, Discord and Other
Comedy; 7k words; Feb 2016; Teen
What's interesting about this is that it takes a premise that you might think was going to (d)evolve into a ridiculous random comedy and instead takes it seriously – in a comedic way, but seriously nevertheless. Octavia's associates have varying views on her new relationship, but "Piano" (the name is explained) isn't really capable of expressing any views without words rather stronger than "gosh darnit". There's a lot of swearing in here, most of it by Piano, but it's no more gratuitous than he is. Discord is very nicely written, dancing on the edge of goofy and terrifying just as he should. Top-end three for me, but possibly shading into a four if Piano doesn't exhaust you. ★★★Octavia tells her friends she's dating Discord. They take it well.
Fireproof by Raugos
Kirins and OC
Slice of Life/Human; 6k words; Apr 2021; Teen
Definitely something new on me, this. Fern, as he's known, turns out to be in a team with not only several humans but also a dragon. We're not really told just how Equestrians ended up on Earth, but then that isn't the point: the focus is narrower and sharper. It's a very slice-of-lifey tale about how the fire crew deal with, well, a fire. Some good use of Kirin peculiarities (and yes, that includes Nirik stuff) and a solid enough story. Unfortunately I did find the author's very obvious research and attention to detail were a bit too much at times; I think I'd have enjoyed this a little more if that aspect had been slightly more lightly sketched and the personal factors allowed more room to breathe. Another high three for me, therefore. ★★★Sweet Inferno is a firefighter on Earth. Being a Kirin is a nice bonus in his line of work.
Next time, stories reviewed should include Chessie's political satire The Equestrian Opposition Party.
NO NO NO was definitely one of the least expected stories I've ever read. Like, you really do anticipate a wacky comedy, but no!
ReplyDeleteSo Aragon's stories read almost exactly like their comics! Splendid.
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