Don't panic when you see that RiL count! Remember, I've only read one story in the last fortnight, but I've added quite a few that caught my eye. Not all of them remotely new to Fimfiction, either. You can be (fairly) sure that the number will be safely back in two figures by the time we get to next week. Anyway, on to the fic I've been reading over Hearth's Warming.
Twice as Bright by Cloudy Skies
Pinkie Pie and Celestia
G4; Romance/Comedy; 52k words; Feb–Apr 2013; Everyone
Celestia likes her routine. Tax reforms, grants, laws and construction projects are all a princess needs to be content. It's just her luck that for Pinkie Pie, "content" is not nearly enough.
Is PinkLestia a crackship? It's certainly an unusual one, which is part of the reason I chose to read it. Anyway, while visiting Celestia in an effort to get her to visit Ponyville, Pinkie starts to realise how much the Princess shines. In other words, she falls for her. Twilight is of course blindsided at first, while the rest of the Mane Six have various reactions – unsurprisingly, Rarity is the most open to a royal romance. The story proceeds quite amiably, barring a little too much LUS even for 2013, and the ship largely does work, better than I imagined it would if I'm honest. This is partly because I liked Pinkie here. (Celestia is fine too. Luna is a useful foil to her at times early on.) However, there's little major action or even serious conflict here. That E rating is perfectly justified. There's the odd fandom nod, as Chris mentions – old-timers may smile at a film called The Return of Krastos – but they don't get in the way. As long as you remember that this is set during mid-S3, with Twilight still a unicorn, this is one of the better undemanding shipfics around. Quite a solid three, even if you're not a massive shipper or don't much care for PinkLestia. ★★★
Past the page break you'll find further, spoilery, comments on this fic.
The central characters in this fic are, fortunately, appealingly written. Pinkie Pie is still largely the simple, fun character she mostly was up until about "Pinkie Pride", although she isn't in S1 hyper mode and does demonstrate her ability to think deeply, if sideways, quite a bit. Celestia is pleasant and approachably royal, which is good as giving her a full-on chessmaster character would not have worked for this story. Is the love story convincing? Well... mostly. Maybe it doesn't entirely pay its bills, but it's not far short and there isn't much washing up to do at the end.
Twilight is a fun character in Twice as Bright. Fortunately there's no TwiLestia seen or implied here, and her protectiveness of Celestia is of the straightforwardly student-teacher school. It's nice to see her try to balance her affection for Pinkie with her feeling that there are, well, standards to be observed when you're around a princess... but then to see her relent with good grace. I much prefer this to the alternative of a Twi who remained uncomfortable with Pinkie and Celestia as a couple the whole way through.
The other Mane Sixers play lesser parts, although Rainbow can be good value in not taking everything too seriously – the prank where she briefly convinces Twilight that she (Dash) fancies Luna is amusing, and just enough within the realms of possibility to work well as a joke. Rarity is a little underused as a fount of knowledge on all things romantic, while Applejack and Fluttershy don't do a great deal and are mostly there to support the others, for example by providing a barn to paint. Spike is barely used.
Luna plays a supporting role that is fairly significant early on, in particular a lovely scene where she and Celestia go for a fly among the stars. This is heavily implied to be something that Tia has not done in many centuries, and so it's a heartening part of the continuing reparation of the sisters' relationship. (After all, this is set in S3, when the process was not yet that established.) Luna rather goes missing in the second half of the fic, and one very brief appearance near the end doesn't quite make up for that.
The story is generally smooth going to read, with the aforementioned LUS and perhaps slightly too much "Pinkie Pie" when plain "Pinkie" would read more smoothly. This isn't a story with much real conflict, as Titanium Dragon pointed out. It's all quite low-key, which will appeal to some readers more than others. If you want the kind of love story that shatters continents, this one is not for you. If your preference is sweet and pleasant with little doubt that there will be a happy ending, then that's a different matter.
Other observations – there's an interesting little scene set at some kind of magical theme park. The world-building in the background there is really quite interesting, but it never comes to the fore and so the scene feels just slightly detached from the rest of the story. The fic's old-fandom credentials show up about a quarter of the way through with a (pretty decent) song starring Pinkie and the other Manes. And there's a fairly extensive Author's Notes at the end which is strictly optional as it's much more thanks than story notes.
Next week, I hope that stories reviewed will include Pascoite's Hearth's Warming slice-of-life fic Dinkin' Donuts. Which I should have got around to ages ago; thanks to Mike for jogging my memory recently by reviewing it himself!
yo, Krastos, now there's a deep cut :D
ReplyDeleteDon't panic when you see that RiL count! […] You can be (fairly) sure that the number will be safely back in two figures by the time we get to next week.
ReplyDeleteHm, yes. Well, I'll hold you to that. Though to be fair, my reading backlog expanded quite a bit over the break too, though only from adding a bunch of fics I'd read before ages ago and only just found again to me Re-Evaluate backlog. Mostly Jinglemas 2020 fics, I read nearly 40 of them. Guess I had an uneventful day or two that holiday!
As for today's featured fic: I've certainly quite liked Cloudy Skies' writing style, though I do recall finding their other short novel shipfic, Taken for Granite to be similarly low-stakes and conflict-light to what you describe here, in a way that made it drag quite a bit for me. This doesn't sound like it's quite that, but it clearly is present somewhat, parsing through the different takes of yourself, Chris and Titanium Dragon, with the latter feeling the elements never fused or coalesced in a way that let the fic grab his attention.
That said, if it can convince Chris, who looks to be just as displayed with Twilestia as I am normally, and also looks to not be a shipping person like me too, it can probably convince me. I appreciate a different depiction of Celestia as you paint here here, though the relatively small roles for the rest of the cast does seem very characteristic of some earlier shipfics that strip the wider world and ensemble out for the leading ponies, in a way that doesn't do the scope much favours. So, given that rating… maybe worth a read for me. Maybe. That said, I also appreciate the existence of Celestia going with a Mane 6 other than Twilight or the usual backup of Rarity.
As long as you remember that this is set during mid-S3, with Twilight still a unicorn
I never cease to be amazed at how most reviews feel the need to state this as though it might be a barrier to entry. No, I'm not speaking of my preference for the earlier seasons here at all. I guess I came in late enough that reading fics set at much earlier timeline points is the norm to me (I read quite a few longfics in that first year that basically branched one show canon hard when they were written in 2012). Me, I tend to only make note of a fic being set earlier if that was deliberate, as opposed to simply being a byproduct of when it was written. But maybe that's just me.
Also, I do not get the Krastos thing at all, and haven't been able to easily figure out what it is.
Pascoite's Hearth's Warming slice-of-life fic Dinkin' Donuts. Which I should have got around to ages ago; thanks to Mike for jogging my memory recently by reviewing it himself!
As Bugs Bunny would say, "Aren't I a stinker?"
Still, least you're getting to it not too far into January! When there (might) still be snow around. Considering you only read my review of the fic yesterday, even for a fic you'd had on your list for years, that's quite the fast-tracking.
Also, I do not get the Krastos thing at all, and haven't been able to easily figure out what it is.
DeleteWELL MY FRIEND YOU ARE IN LUCK because I am good at knowing stuff!
Back in... Probably 2012 or 2013, former US President Bill Clinton appeared on a radio game show. I think it was on NPR, but don't quote me on that. The format involved getting famous people to answer pop culture questions for whatever reason, and ol' Bill was asked a question about My Little Pony!
I of course have forgotten the question itself. It had something to do with what villain they fought in the first season, the answer of course being Nightmare Moon. But there were four possible answers, the rest of which were intensely silly. I remember one like, a bully or a mean grown-up or something, and one of them was "Krastos the Gluemaker".
It's most likely just a goofy name an intern came up with, but the brony fandom -- being a fandom and all -- took it and ran with it. Or at least, continued to keep the name around as a Thing for a while. I don't actually think I've ever seen a fic with a character named Krastos, though I've at least seen the name dropped every once in a great while.
I, of course, had a few ideas for them that never got off the ground. Personal mythology: He's the Equestrian god of death. :) There you go!
Oh, I recognise that story! It had been told to me before; I even watched the clip. Evidently I didn't search very hard when I couldn't remember this time. Not my smartest moment. Think I thought The Return of Krastos was a fanfic and tried to find it, only to see three other fics with that name in the title that didn't seem to be related.
DeleteHeh. Yeah.
But regardless, thanks for reminding me, buddy. Quite a fandom we were/are, to confuse Clinton and get a fake answer to stick around for a while. Stuff like that'll never cease to amaze.
three other fics with that name in the title
DeleteOf which Horse Voice's is the only one I've read, back in 2018. Not a bad choice, though, as I really liked it. It's not a fluffy story, but that's Horse Voice for you.
Re: draginess: I would call what you're describing a "feature" of Skys' writing; even his action stories are full of low-stakes, slower-moving pseudo-fluff.
DeleteI found that it was a good fit for Twice As Bright specifically, though. Even though I think it pulls some of his other stories down, here I felt it matched the tone and development of the shipping in a way that reinforced the larger narrative. But with that said, it's 100% still there, and if you don't enjoy that style, I don't imagine this fic will change your mind.
-Chris
@Chris -- I think it fits quite well, too. It's not the kind of thing I'd often read, so a solid three is pretty good going. Those wanting slowish, mostly-fluffy shipping I can easily see loving it, indeed.
Delete