It's been a strange week or so here in the Living Museum of Ceremonial Weirdness, or the UK as we sometimes like to nickname it. However, things are getting back to normal now and that means I need another form of escapism. Fortunately, ponyfic does the job admirably well. As is the norm nowadays, there are four stories under the microscope today. They are:
A Hint of Key Lime by Metool Bard
Heart to Heart by Crosis
Morsel of Truth by Pen Stroke
The Reality I Choose by The Hat Man
★: 0 | ★★: 0 | ★★★: 3 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.
A Hint of Key Lime by Metool Bard
Limestone Pie, Pinkie and Applejack
G4; Slice of Life; 3k words; Oct 2015; Everyone
Limestone Pie gets in on the family bonding action.
This fairly brief piece of fluff forms a coda to Season 5's "Hearthbreakers" and shows us a softer, less abrasive side of Limestone. It's rather a sweet little fic, albeit hardly action-packed. The interaction between the characters is pleasant, and in accordance with how their relations improved by the end of the episode. I don't have much to say about this one: it's a modest thing, but it does what it sets out to do satisfyingly enough to nudge into the threes. ★★★
Heart to Heart by Crosis
Spike, Cadance, Twilight, Celestia and Shining Armor
G4; Romance/Slice of Life; 8k words; Dec 2012; Teen (Sex)
Spike has a simple question. Cadence has no idea what she's getting herself into.
The question? "I want to know what love is." (And if your musical tastes are as retro as mine, you'll be hearing this song in your head...) Asking Cadance, expert on all things love, seems a very good idea. The trouble is, there are many kinds of love, some easier to explain than others. And Spike, innocent kid that he is, sometimes shades into asking about things he's a little young yet to know about. At this point the fic becomes that rare thing: a sex comedy that isn't creepy and is funny. It's a fun take on the "birds and bees" theme that's about the only way you can do this with a kid as a main character and that many writers have tackled. The fact that it's set pre-FiM makes the parts dealing with Cadance and Shiny dating more amusing. Cadance gradually realising what she's let herself in for by listening to Spike is priceless almost throughout. Great fun. ★★★★
Morsel of Truth by Pen Stroke
Mane Six
G4; Slice of Life; 4k words; Oct 2016; Everyone
There is a bit of truth to every legend, though the ravages of time can bury it deeply. One of Equestria’s oldest legends is the core of Nightmare Night. Yet, how much of the old legend is true, and how much is fiction?
Yes, that Pen Stroke. The Past Sins guy. Anyway, the genre tag seems misplaced: this is actually a (relatively gentle) horror story. Late one Nightmare Night, a strange filly covered in a sheet arrives at each of the Mane Six's homes in turn, starting at Twilight's place. The filly wants candy, but the Manes don't always have what she's after.¹ And then the older pony is... gone. This keeps on happening, quietly and unobtrusively, until Pinkie takes a very different approach. This was an interesting read and I enjoyed the reveal (especially as I worked it out just before it happened). Sadly a substantial extension of Zecora's rhyme from "Luna Eclipsed" doesn't come close to scanning, and that did break the immersion quite badly for me. Still a three, but that one big downside is a real shame in an otherwise nice fic. ★★★
¹ This being Ponyville, inviting strange kids into your house late at night isn't a big deal
The Reality I Choose by The Hat Man
Twilight, Sunset Shimmer, Spike and Other
G4 AU; Drama; 7k words; Dec 2015; Everyone
Battling Starlight Glimmer, Twilight finds herself in another alternate timeline. Only this time, she finds herself in the Golden Oak Library with the Princess of Friendship: Sunset Shimmer.
The first S5 finale-inspired story I've read for a while! This one takes an approach I haven't seen before, landing Twilight and Spike in a nice alternative timeline. There are still six Elements (though here borne by different ponies), Celestia is happy, Spike is addressed by everyone as "sir" and so on. There's some fun setting-up, even if not that original – Derpy and the Doctor are together, for example. But the meat comes later, as Twilight's dilemma is this: should she stay in this new reality or return, attempt to fix everything and perhaps destroy the world Sunset now enjoys? Some interesting moral ambiguity here, which makes it a bit of a shame that the end rushes up on us and doesn't feel as weighty as perhaps it should. Still, I appreciate the decision to avoid yet another "World of Woe" alt-future. ★★★
Next time, I hope that stories reviewed will include Chris's Rarity drama The Circle and the Cross.
A selection of good stuff! :D Hope the ceremonial weirdness has finally come to an end.
ReplyDeleteCeremonial weirdness is not necessarily a bad thing. It distracts everyone from real life, and given the state of much of real life right now...
DeleteFor once, I'm familiar with most of these! Heart to Heart is on my list and on target to be read soon (will have to not publish it in the next month now you've used it today, mind), and I'm glad to hear it does the "awkward sex talk around a child" thing that well.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, I've read both A Hint of Key Lime and The Reality I Choose before, in my rating pre-review days, though I don't know I stand by my ratings for either: I gave the Limestone a fic just a Passable (named Decent at the time), and that strikes me as not right, going off this review of yours. Feels like it should be in my actual Decent tier. Given it's an immediate reaction to Hearthbreakers, being published two days later, might be due for a re-read.
Meanwhile, for the Alt Mane 6 Sunset one, my Really Good strikes me as too generous, both because the rushed end weakens it not insubstantially, and I've read other fics since with a nice timeline where Twilight must make the same decision, not least bats' emotionally gut-sucker What Might Have Been (which, for any of you who haven't read it, you need to, like now). Still, it's a more than solid one, can't go wrong with that ★★★.
Ah, and a fic by Chris next week, eh? I definitely have not read as much written by one of the fandom's most prolific reviewers as I should have (two Really Good fics, Artistic License and A White Hearth's Warming, plus his Carrot Top Choose Your Own Adventure fic). Will keep an eye out for that review!
Without giving too much away, I think a big reason Heart to Heart works is that it uses Spike's innocence well. A poorly written fic could have ended up squicking me badly by representing him as though he were already (the equivalent of) a teenager. This avoids that, hence also avoids tipping over into creepiness.
DeleteI have not, in fact, read What Might Have Been. Another addition to the RiL pile, then!
This is precisely why I ended up liking that one so much. :D
DeleteI want you to shoooow meeeeeeee
ReplyDeleteShoooow, don't teeeell. :P
Delete