Read it Later story count: 92 (+4)
Autumn is definitely in the air around Logan Towers. Although the afternoons can still be very pleasantly warm, there's starting to be a chill in the air and it's definitely no longer nice to sit outside in the evenings. Especially as it's getting dark by seven o'clock now. So, time to snuggle up with a nice My Little Pony story, eh? We're back to the regular format of four short fics today. They are as follows:
Down the Laundry Chute by Tethered-Angel
One Last Goodbye by Note Sketch
There is Nothing at the End of the Lane by Charles Rocketboy
LOOK AT THAT GUY!!! by Inkblotter
★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 2 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.
Down the Laundry Chute by Tethered-Angel
Sunset, Adagio and Opalescence
G4 AU; Romance/Adventure; 4k words; Aug 2018; Everyone
Sunset and Adagio are Sweetie's most beloved stuffed animals. They are also each other's favorite cuddle buddies.
A Pony story with actual plushies as the protagonists? Can't say I've seen that before! It's a nicely original concept – and I'm happy to say the author does it justice. The sweet romantic relationship between Sunset and Adagio (which would need serious setting up in an EqG context) is very cute, and although "small creatures find a normal house a real adventure" has been done many times, the plushie-specific aspects here are well handled. Some fun dialogue, such as Adagio's "I am to be hand-washed only!" and Opal is a nicely judged "villain" of the piece. A bit of LUS here and there (Rarity is "the seamstress" more than once) and the ending is a bit dull, but on the whole this is really fluffy fluff and none the worst for it. A top-end three and definitely one for fans of cute. ★★★
One Last Goodbye by Note Sketch
Luna and Sombra
G4; Romance/Sad/Tragedy; 3k words; Feb 2015; Teen
They say Luna turned into Nightmare Moon soon after she and her sister had taken down the Tyrant King Sombra. What they don't know is that it was more than just a coincidence. He was once the pillar that held her up. She was too much for one to bare.
A typo in the description is never ideal, but this is in fact a fairly interesting look at a tragic romance between the Princess of the Night and the Prince of Crystals (or whatever). What's intriguing is that, here, Sombra doesn't know how much damage he caused to the Empire. Admittedly amnesia can be the last refuge of a cliché-monger, but here it's handled quietly enough to work. It's all a bit uneven, though, the various strands of the plot never quite being fully tied together. A few irritating technical faults as well. Still, a pretty solid two and perhaps worth a look if the ship interests you. ★★
There is Nothing at the End of the Lane by Charles Rocketboy
Twist and Doctor Whooves
G4; Dark; 1k words; Dec 2012; Teen
There's something odd about Dr Whooves - and something odd about the local statues. Twist thinks she wants to know why. The answers will cost more than she knows.
Another fic where an intriguing idea isn't quite done justice by the writing. For a start, though, what a character pairing! They're not together, though; indeed, this is a rather tragic tale from Twist's perspective, as her growing obsession with finding out what's going on with that odd brown stallion first loses her friends and then... well, all I can say is that reality itself becomes a little unreliable. Doctor Who fans will smile at references, but I don't think you need to be familiar, though if you are you may find the author's explanation (spoilery!) a bit annoying. That aside, this is creepy but choppy, making it another two-star fic. ★★
LOOK AT THAT GUY!!! by Inkblotter
Other (Rob), Sprout and Phyllis
G5; Comedy/Random; 8k words; Sep 2022; Teen
Rob the earth pony finds himself trapped in a nightmarish musical number where every line rhymes with his name.
This one was signal-boosted by Estee recently, and I'm glad of that as I might have missed it otherwise. It's the author's first fic here, but I hope not their last. Taking a one-line character and building a genuinely amusing comedy around him is really quite impressive. The problem here is that Rob has a phobia of rhyming, so finding himself around a certain angry mob is not ideal. There's space for the odd wonderfully bad pony pun ("Hamuelton") and for a slightly sad origin for Rob's phobia. Sprout is completely unhinged, as you'd hope and expect. This only runs out of steam a little towards the end, when a tad too much space is taken on social commentary – I'm happy to accept the author's A/N stating that this too is just there for comedy value, but it does get a little bit wordy even so. But the rest is great fun, especially an ending which I probably should have seen coming but didn't. Another top-end three and well worth your time. ★★★
Next time, I hope that stories reviewed will include Metool Bard's "Limestone not being angry all the time" slice-of-life A Hint of Key Lime.
What goes around, comes around; I picked up Down the Laundry Chute from TCC56's Recommendsday blogs, and you picked it up from me. We seem to have near-identical reactions to it too, which is nice. One can't go wrong if they're looking for really fluffy fluff, "it's so fluffy I'm gonna die" levels of fluff.
ReplyDeleteI suppose, off Estee's recommendation and this review, I should give LOOK AT THAT GUY!!! a read, but gimmick-lampshading meta fics like that tend to be… a hard sell for me, and your words on it are sort of straddling the border for whether to bother or not. Hm.
It's better than you'd think from the setup, and I genuinely did laugh (which too many [Comedy]-tagged fics don't manage) but it's not an all-time classic, no. So yeah... if it were a 1,000-word quickie, I'd still say go on and read it. But at 8k it's long enough that I don't know whether you'd find it worth the effort. I did, but while I'm not a huge metafic fan I don't necessarily find them a bad thing.
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