Read it Later story count: 98 (-5)
Look at that RiL number! Look at it! It's taken me years to get to this point, but here I am at last: it's in two figures. From here on in, I won't be trying to get the number down every week, but simply to keep it roughly steady, say between 90 and 110 fics. I'll keep posting the stat because why not, but at last I have reached the goal I set myself so long ago. Yay and all that. This week's three fics are:
Figments by Obselescence
The Drop of Ambrosia by FanOfMostEverything
The Life and Times of an Honest Pony by Casca
★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I find average scores two stars.
Fluttershy and Discord
Slice of Life; 5k words; Jan 2014; Everyone
Fluttershy and Discord have become very good friends lately. Now if only she could convince him that she's not in his imagination...
Written when Discord's reformation was still fairly new, this story scores most highly with me for its characterisation of the draconequus himself. A lot of fics have Discords that really don't sound anything like Discord; this one's does sound like him. Fluttershy is perhaps a little on the dull side for a while, though this is one of those stories where you need to keep your wits about you when reading... It's at least arguable that this should be [AU], but then what's AU where Discord is concerned? Makes it into the threes for Discord's good voicing. ★★★
The Drop of Ambrosia by FanOfMostEverything
Twilight, Celestia and Luna
Comedy/Slice of Life; 3k words; Oct 2016; Teen
It was always Twilight's destiny to ascend to alicornhood. Yup. Destiny. That's Celestia's story and she's sticking to it.
A silly little fic in which young Twilight, through a dunking in the Fountain of Youth, sets herself unknowingly on the path to alicornhood. Celestia, all-wise, all-seeing Celestia, is in a bit of a panic. The story briefly ties into a scene in the S3 premiere and goes some way to explaining Luna's look as Twilight appears for her "test". The story is inspired somewhat by The Drop of Honey, and it does have some chuckles as you'd hope. It ends a bit disappointingly, though, and I came away feeling slightly confused. Partly a function of FOME's general high standards, but I don't think this is quite one of his best. Top-end two. ★★
The Life and Times of an Honest Pony by Casca
OC
Slice of Life; 5k words; Dec 2013; Everyone
I dinna wanna spend New Year's away from home. But it's okay. It's for the family, and it's for Momma - even if I can't get back to see the new year in, there's still the rest of it, right?
This one reminds me a little of some of Admiral Biscuit's stories of ordinary ponies. In this case, the narrator is working on a massive construction site in Canterlot, helping to rebuild after a disaster that... well, it's never made entirely clear what happened, but Luna has something to do with it. There's more than one timeline here, though the jumps are perhaps a little too subtle for a clumsy reader like me. Odd tech level, too, with radios mentioned several times. Does this imply this is another Lunar rebellion in the future? On the other hand, Celestia's mane is pink, which suggests the far past. (Also, this story was written before S4 made certain elements of the fic incompatible with canon.) I know some people adored this story for its narrator's unusual voice (Present Perfect, for one) but it didn't fully click with me. Maybe didn't help that I couldn't place the guy's accent at all. A very high two, but a two all the same. ★★
There will be no Ponyfic Roundup next week because of UK PonyCon this weekend. PR will be back on the 20th, and I'll be celebrating reaching my RiL target with a special edition concentrating on one author. Who will it be? You'll see!
"Yay and all that"
ReplyDeleteLouder!
Well done on reaching RiL Equilibrium. Another interesting selection, too (I'm always curious, when the RiL drop is bigger than the week's chosen crop, about the ones that didn't make it!)
In case this is the last opportunity to say so, have fun at Ponycon!
Thank you; I certainly plan to!
DeleteAnd thank you again. In this case, as Mike suggests below, it was a case of fics I decided I was simply unlikely ever to read. One, for example, had been on the list for about four years and I now couldn't remember why I'd added it in the first place!
Nice, you finally got sub-100 on the RiL list!
ReplyDeleteAnd earlier than expected too, at least from this corner. Naturally delisted fits and ones you decided you were never going to read, and thus removed from the list yourself, are to credit for the list dropping more pics in recent weeks then you've been reading. Clearly, it works!
Keep it up, buddy. And have a corking time at Ponycon too! That author spotlight certainly has my curiosity piqued… but I can wait two weeks.
Yes, it's quite a relief! :P
DeleteI think I've pretty much got all the fics I don't think I'm ever going to read off the RiL list now. As such, I expect keeping the number fairly steady to be reasonably easy from here on in.
Also, thank you! I am, as you know, looking forward to the weekend immensely.
Also also, this is an author I've wanted to read more fics by for a while. I'm glad I'm finally going to have the time.