Read it Later story count: 96 (-1)
Words read this week: 40,638
Have any of you fine folks read D G D Davidson's A Mighty Demon Slayer Grooms Some Ponies? I'm debating with myself whether to read it for a Spotlight at some point. The fic has been marked "on hiatus" for a decade with the last chapter unpublished, so normally the answer would be no, but there's a blog post by the author which apparently does at least provide a full final scene. Also, the ides of an extended G1/G4 crossover set on Earth and with a [Dark] tag intrigues me. Still, 90k words is a lot for me. I dunno, really. Anyone? Today's fics are one mid-length story and four quickies:
Not All Peaches and Cream by Garbo
Felt Heart by Tchernobog
The Line by Axan Zenith
Possibly, Probably, Positively Platonic by DualSoul1423
Confessions in a Canterlot Statuary by Daffodil
★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 4 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.
Not All Peaches and Cream by Garbo
Twilight and Celestia
G4; Random; 1k words; Dec 2013; Everyone
Celestia makes Twilight write a full dissertation on a Peach. Boredom ensues.
For those new to this stuff, many years ago there was a meme on Fimfiction involving Twilight and peaches. That was doubtless the inspiration for this fic. It's pretty much what it says on the tin. Mostly fairly solidly written, other than a weird moment when "pear" is substituted for "peach" for no apparent reason. But though it is more of an actual story than many peachfics, it's still not one that sticks in my mind. ★★
Felt Heart by Tchernobog
Twilight, Rarity and Mane Six
G4; Romance/Comedy/Slice of Life; 34k words; Feb–Apr 2013; Everyone
Rarity discovers an old tradition involving the exchange of felt dolls as a sign of affection. This sparks a brilliant plan to play matchmaker with her friends, and between herself and Twilight. But brilliant plans never go as expected, do they?The only non-short reviewed this week, this was well enough regarded in its day to be inducted into The Royal Guard (remember them?) Does it still hold up? Well, for the most part. We get pairings of AppleDash, FlutterPie and... okay, whether RariTwi happens is the main point. Rarity's too-clever scheming running out of her control is nicely executed, while Rainbow Dash's denseness while a bit overdone provides broad humour. Pinkie comes out of the fic especially well, mixing early-series randomness with a highly appealing thoughtfulness. Indeed, the characters' dents and quirks are amusingly recognisable – probably for the best, since the tagged [Comedy] isn't of the "laugh out loud" kind. A highly convenient eavesdropping by Rarity of Celestia and Luna talking stretches credulity slightly, even if it does give us a subplot that doubles as history. There's a fair amount of head-hopping, but it's done deliberately and mostly effectively. This story does have quite intrusive LUS, which is a shame: we're talking "the pink mare" rather than "the alabaster fashionista" which is something, but it happens a lot. If you really like Mane Six shipping and enjoy pleasant stories where plot conveniences are part of life, this is recommended. For others, eg me, it's a bit more of a toss-up. I like the character writing enough to give it a solid three. ★★★
The Line by Axan Zenith
OCs and Other
G4; Dark; 2k words; Feb 2015; Mature (Gore)
A large factory in the middle of the Griffon Empire holds a dark secret.
Unless you're entirely new to ponyfic, seeing an M-rated fic about a factory with a dark secret is going to make you think of... well, this. This fic isn't about that factory, however. It's one for those who like the darker side of griffons' carnivorous nature, though the gore is fairly mild by [Mature] standards. Not to say it's not upsetting, but most of the horror is left to the mind's eye. Still, there's an interesting moral question here, one that only really applies to Equestria – something I usually appreciate. Having to be vague because of spoilers, but if only this fic hadn't given away its key reveal a little before it needed to then it might have been a four. Still a pretty decent three, though. ★★★
Review requested by author
Possibly, Probably, Positively Platonic by DualSoul1423
Starlight, Trixie and Sunburst
G4; Romance/Comedy/Slice of Life; 2k words; Feb 2023; Teen (Sex)
Starlight Glimmer was having a pretty good morning until she discovered something that shook her to her very core: Apparently she's dating both of her best friends, and she's only finding this out on their first anniversary together.
Cards on the table here: this is a fic about a poly relationship, something I have no experience of. As such, I can't entirely judge how realistic the characters' reactions are – though the end A/N says it was partly based on the author's own experience. I quite like the characterisation here, especially Starlight's: "I feel like what you just said was really offensive, but I'm not sure how yet", heh. She does have to be Idiot Balled at one stage for the sake of the plot (you'll know when you read "I'm so dumb") which is a shame, and there's a little expo-dumping. And though this isn't a complaint, a line about the CMC comes out of nowhere. Still, it's an appealing and good-natured story, and the ending and especially the last line make up for a lot. All in all? Rather cute; I think it does enough to nudge into the threes. ★★★
Confessions in a Canterlot Statuary by Daffodil
Twilight
G4; Dark; 1k words; Oct 2012; Everyone
"Then all smiles stopped together."
That shortdesc is a quote from Robert Browning's poem "My Last Duchess". This is a short and smoothly written internal monologue by... well, that's the point. We never get told who, though there is a sprinkling of clues and so there's fun in trying to work it out. Whoever it is is addressing one of the statues, and again names aren't used. The very end of the fic gives us a further clue as to the speaker, one which lingered in my mind and made me rethink my initial guess. I wasn't a fan of this author's Taxing and Waning (PR 331) but Confessions appealed to me significantly more. ★★★
A two and four threes this week! Not the best week ever, certainly not the worst. Let's see what next time's batch o' five will bring. To whet your appetite, here's the run-down of what's coming:
A Most Irregular Tea Party by PresentPerfect
Queen of the Everfree by Bandy
Rotting Apples by Thunder Song
Rarity's No Good, Horrible, Very Bad Day by darkcyan
The Two Unicorns by Lets Do This
heyyyy, Daffodil, gone but not forgotten :D
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of, Demon Slayer has been on my tracking shelf, and now my backburner, for ages. It's the kind of story I would only read if I were going to do a "stories that for sure will never be finished" edition, in which case, I would definitely read it.
All of which is to say, I'm glad the author has a (non-functional) link to his side blog in his description there, because it shows he is still alive, 2019 being one of those nerve-wracking "are they dead?" "last seen" dates. Though I scanned the archive of said blog for the month he was last seen on Fimfic and found nothing of note or explanation beyond a single entry which simply reads "I'm sorry". :B Regardless, glad he did not die of the 'rona, I always liked his stuff.
I mean, the "last seen" date is January 2019, so a full year before any of us had heard of Covid. So that wouldn't especially bother me. I'm not actually sure whether the bloody thing took any ponyfic writers away from us. I do remember one (paperhearts, I think?) writing about being ill enough to spend some while in hospital.
DeleteI feel like we did lose at least one, though who escapes me right now.
DeleteThen again, I figure it's more likely we lost unknowns who had little to no presence on the site and no one to actually miss them online. :/
Even though I'm not a shipper, and generally like neither "all of the Mane 6 like another in the group" fics nor slow plot-light romances, I adored Felt Heart. Perhaps it doesn't justify the Excellent I gave it in my pre-review days, but I can't see myself dipping below a ★★★★ even now; other than the Pinkie/Fluttershy pairing having minimal in-universe indication as to why they like each other, it's all believable and flows very well. The character writing just makes it, and yet again makes me sad Tchernobog only ever wrote six stories, for they are immensely reliable at doing romance in a way I like. Your ★★★ does read as a high three,
ReplyDeleteso we're not too far off on this one. Though given I liked their Mood Wings a fair share more than you, maybe their works just hits me where my heart lives, eh?
Sadly, this means you've reviewed the big hitters of their resum̩ Рwhat's left is an incomplete TwiJackDash fic, an anthology of AppleDash multiauthor fic, and their debut AppleDash fic Those Blue Wings from 2012, which is fine but clearly a debut fic from an author who would quickly improve. Decide as you will whether to bother with any of those.
Otherwise, pretty average selection this week. Happens. And I've never heard of this peaches meme. That fic doesn't exactly compell me to do my homework on the matter.
Yeah, I think it may just be that the way Tchernobog writes (okay, wrote, though they still log in) is to your taste, rather than any particular objective fault. The LUS apart, that is. Mind you, I gave Minor Details! a four, so it's not as if I dislike them.
DeleteOh yeah, forgot to say: the original peachfic was Twilight Eats a Peach by none other than Admiral Biscuit.
DeleteThe peachfics were more or less a forced meme and kinda not really worth remembering these days. <_< I of course did a review blog.
DeleteGeez, just when I thought I was aware of all the notable early fandom trends. That review blog's collection of fics is just a time capsule of the fandom's early tendency in pursuing dumb memes, and I really don't have any reaction to it beyond "Uh…". I'm boring like that.
DeleteI'm not sure what the last truly meme-inspiring fic was. GaPJaxie's Would It Matter If I Was? definitely managed it though was seven and a half years ago (sob, I feel so old) but there may have been one since. Can't think of any offhoof, though.
DeleteI read "Demon Slayer" and very much enjoyed it. I liked the way Davidson cleverly connected the major events of the G1 and G4 worlds through Megan's actions as a child. Also, Davidson treats the MLP ponies as both intelligent, yet still horse-like in much of their behavior.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds promising; thanks. I've always liked the slightly more horsey behaviour in S1 of FiM, so what you describe certainly interests me.
DeleteHow did I miss the peach thing? Oh well, sounds like I didn't miss much.
ReplyDeleteI have read A Mighty Demon Slayer Grooms Some Ponies and it was sort of like being in an Uber with a friendly, chatty driver who keeps detouring into worse and worse neighborhoods until he pulls into an abandoned factory and someone slams the gate shut behind you.
Or maybe it's like eating a delicious plate of food, and halfway through you start finding some unidentifiable grit in it that gets worse and worse until you realize that your lips are bleeding.
Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if someday Davison shoots up a school to show everyone how much he loves Jesus.
No, really.
Well... blimey. I can't really think of anything else to say to that!
Delete