Ponyfic Roundup 529: Equestria Girls Edition

Read it Later story count: 92 (nc)

Words read this week: 27,285

As I type this, it's 15 °C and sunny outside and there's a feeling that spring really is on the way. (Well, already here if you go by meteorological months.) Back in the world of ponyfic, though, it's time to look at five stories that all revolve around the humanised versions of those same ponies. Yes, it's EqG time today! Here's what I've been reading:

Penance by Bicyclette
Just Want A Hug by SilverStar7
My Little Songfish by BlackWater
Dark Sunset by pabrony83
Asking a Favor by Tinybit92

★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 3 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

Sounds of 2015, nos. 40 to 36

Here we go once more with another look at the Pony music that was shaking the fandom ten years ago. For those of us who've been around that long, it's slightly concerning that some of these songs – and the events that inspired them – are now a decade old. Ah well, time marches on as they say. So indeed do my inclusion criteria:

Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the/an original artist.
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this.
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out.
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion. 

Last week I was able to feature all five tracks. This week? All five again! One required a non-YouTube official source, but it was there! I think it's a good list, even if not all the songs were brand new for 2015:

40: µThunder – I'll Fly (remix)
39: Black Gryph0n & Baasik – Sight Unseen
38: PrinceWhateverer ft. Dreamchan & CGScrambles – Beyond the Horizon
37: SlyphStorm – Nightmare Night (cover)
36: Sim Gretina – In Our Town (remix)

All right, that's the introductory stuff dealt with, so let's avoid getting bogged down in waffle and get moving to the actual music!

My Little Repeats 180: "Non-Compete Clause"

An actual nice reference? In this episode? It's a miracle!

S8E09: "Non-Compete Clause"

12 May 2018

My original rating: ★★
IMDb score: 4.4

The one with er... bite-a-cudas?

Thoughts: In IMDb ratings, this is the lowest that Friendship is Magic ever got, the only episode of the entire series that scored below five. Look, you know it's bad. I know it's bad. Everyone knows it's bad. The students are the only real saving grace, and they stop this from breaking my run of never finding any episode of this series entirely without merit. It's nowhere near enough, though. Applejack and Rainbow are not just hit with the Idiot Ball but repeatedly shot at point-blank range with Idiot Blunderbusses. Even ignoring the absurd character regression, "Fall Weather Friends" did their rivalry far better in the middle of season one. They almost drown Yona and don't show much concern, which is just unbelievable. Their fighting also goes on and on and on. Otherwise? Um... the Fluttershy "Teacher of the Month" joke is amusing, Twilight isn't entirely useless, and... er... the episode looks quite nice. But AJ and RD still bickering at the end? Tedious, like the ep as a whole. I'm only glad for Kim Beyer-Johnson's sake that this wasn't her only FiM writing credit. Her others weren't terrible. "Non-Compete Clause" is, and hard as the students work to save it, they still can't. And now it's over and I never have to watch this episode again. Until I inevitably do. Again. And regret it. Again.

Choice quote: Gallus: "Yeah... it's been like this all day..."

New rating: ★

The only way is up, right? And indeed, the next episode is "The Break Up Breakdown", which I remember rather enjoying – and not only because it wasn't "Non-Compete Clause" any more...

Ponyfic Roundup 528

Read it Later story count: 92 (+1)

Words read this week: 22,543

I don't really have anything of interest to say here, but when has that ever stopped me? I will note that we're now getting to the point in the year when if – if – the sun decides to come out, it can almost feel springlike. I even sat outside a pub with a drink the other day. For about ten minutes before I got too cold, but still. Anyway, back to the ponyfic. Five stories this week as usual, and here's the list:

Pumpkin Talk by Heavy Mole
Try by Nailah
More Than Her Mane by Westphalian_Musketeer
Ever After Never Came by Thunderbug80
The Best and the Worst by Shrink Laureate

★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 2 | ★★★★: 2 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

Sounds of 2015, nos. 45 to 41

It's back to "Sounds of 2015" today, and things are really hotting up. Actually they're kind of doing so in real life as well, since as I type the sun is out and the sky is (mostly) blue, which makes a change after the endless weeks of grey drizzle we've endured in these parts up until recently. Never mind; it's time to blow any remaining clouds away! The usual reminder of my inclusion criteria first:

Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the/an original artist.
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this.
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out.
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion. 

For the past couple of weeks, I've had to skip at least one track. This time around, it's back to the full five, although I'm afraid I still couldn't find official HQ download links for most.

45: Sim Gretina – The Pony I Want to Be (remix)
44: TheIronPony & Michael Picher – Rio's Ballad
43: Foozogz – Faded
42: Scraton – Wireless
41: Lenich & Kirya – Love Me Cheerilee (cover)

And now we're done with that, come with me for embedded videos, a few facts and figures, and my trademark semi-pointless ramblings about each song.

My Little Repeats 179: "The Parent Map"

Early-series Twilight doing this at her library might have been fun

S8E08: "The Parent Map"

5 May 2018

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 7.4

The one with chocolate perfume

Thoughts: This is a reasonable enough episode, with a reasonable plot leading to a reasonable moral. It doesn't do anything I hate, and it's nice to see Starlight and Sunburst teaming up, but by Celestia it's predictable in its overall direction. The "don't touch the books" bookshop is strange, all the more so as Firelight does handle them later with no comeback. You do wonder what Starlight's dad was doing while his daughter was off brainwashing ponies. I do like the tension between modernisation and preservation, but then I do live in an old town in Europe! As in 2018, I rather wish that had been the central conflict here. And where are our heroes' other parents? Even a line would have been nice. Some nice visuals and jokes, such as those gates, but even some of those get reused noticeably often. Not a terrible ep, but a bit flat compared with other family-based episodes like "Parental Glideance". All in all, a time-passer of an episode rather than anything more; just too predictable to be more than that. I think only a smidge above the purely run-of-the-mill, which means a top-end two-star rating now.

Choice quote: Stellar Flare: "Use your words, Sunburst."

New rating: ★★

Well now, let's see what's next on the list. And... "Non-Compete Clause". Oh. Well, it has to be done, doesn't it? I suppose. See you there!

Ponyfic Roundup 527

Read it Later story count: 91 (-1)

Words read this week: 17,002

A very low word count this time, partly on account of having only five days to read, note and write up, rather than the usual seven. Yeah, I know I ought to get a couple of weeks in advance exactly so I can ride over these bumps without too much issue, but I never seem to manage it. Nevertheless, I did get all through all five fics, and as a reminder they are:

Immortal Beginnings by Snake Staff
So Her Legacy Will Endure by PresentPerfect
Pink Geode by Faeforches
A meeting by IsaSpSp
A Girl Walks Home Alone At Midnight by Jade Ring

★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 1
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

Sounds of 2015, nos. 50 to 46

A milestone passed today, as we enter the top half of the Equestrian Trot 100 chart of most voted-for fandom music tracks of 2015. Not all of them were originally released in 2015, but that's irrelevant. The point is that the people who voted still found them worth voting for in 2015. And now I've used the year three times in three sentences (four in four, if you count the title) I think it's time to move on! The usual reminder of my inclusion rules follows:

Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the/an original artist.
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this.
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out.
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion. 

Last week, I had to skip two of the five songs for non-compliance with those criteria. This week, I can improve a bit: I only need to skip one track today! I hope to get back to a full slate soon, but we'll have to wait and see on that score.

50: Scraton – Ponies
49: skipped
48: Notion – Stop the Bats (remix)
47: PrinceWhateverer ft. Rockin'Brony – Ace of my Heart
46: 4everfreebrony ft. Lil' Everfree – Otherwise

That's the introductory stuff over and done with, so it's time to continue to the section that has actual music in it...

Ponyfic Roundup 526

Read it Later story count: 92 (+3)

Words read this week: 32,686

It's been a hard week for me, but after the music post the other day, I'm feeling that I'm ready to get back into the routine of bloggishness. You'll be getting a "My Little Repeats" about the next S8 episode ("The Parent Map") before too much longer, but first it's Ponyfic Roundup time. Five stories as usual when there's no Spotlight fic to hog all the limelight for itself, and here they are:

Can't Choose Your Family by CyborgSamurai
The Heart Thief by Sharaloth
Button Squash (Or, Maud Doesn't Write About Rocks) by Rinnaul
Moonbug by Sledge115
Supper of Scootaloo Stew by Lucky Dreams

★: 0 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 3 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

Sounds of 2015, nos. 55 to 51

Back to the usual run of things now. Because this post is a day later than usual, and to space things out a little, Ponyfic Roundup will be on Friday this week. Today, though, it's time for "Sounds of 2015", in which we complete our look at the bottom half of the Equestrian Trot 100 music chart for that year. As usual, here's my summary of the inclusion criteria:

Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the/an original artist.
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this.
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out.
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion. 

Well, it was always likely to happen sooner or later. After a run of full houses, this week I've come across not one but two songs that I can't find still up anywhere officially connected with their artist. As such, I'm afraid they will have to be skipped. Here's what you are getting this time, though:

55: &I ft. Giggly Maria – Dive
54: skipped
53: FritzyBeat hugs PhonyBrony ft. Chi-chi – Hush Now
52: µThunder – Make This Castle a Home (remix)
51: skipped

All right, next up comes the bit you're actually interested in, to wit the songs! Even if there are only three of them today, let's set off at once.

In memory of Entei-rah

You may wonder why I haven't posted anything here for nearly a week. The answer, I'm afraid, is a sad one. Entei-rah, a wonderful friend who I'd known for well over 20 years, succumbed to his cancer on Saturday, and I've been knocked sideways by the news. I'd known the destination was inevitable for some while now, I just hate so much that the end came so quickly. I'm going to miss him terribly, indeed I already do, but I'll always remember him as one of the absolute Good Guys.

Although furry was the place where Ent was most active, he was also a quiet but dedicated supporter of the MLP fandom. He was a regular presence with his wife at UK PonyCon each year, and he attended quite a few Worcester ponymeets – the last of these as recently as December. By that time we knew he was seriously ill and I suspect he found travelling down from Stockport tougher than he let on, but being Ent he was more concerned with making sure we all had a fun, light-hearted meet as usual.

Entei-rah and I first met way, way back in the Watership Down fandom in the very early 2000s, in the days when Yahoo Groups were still a thing. From there he moved into the furry fandom, and in the last decade he took more of an interest in Pony as well and supported that with the same energy and enthusiasm he put into all the many things he loved. As he said in his Twitter and then Bluesky profile, "Luna is best something something..."

Farewell, my friend.

Ponyfic Roundup 525

Read it Later story count: 89 (-2)

Words read this week: 23,459

Just think, it'll be spring next month. Since that's my favourite season (usually) I'm quite looking forward to it, although the English weather being what it is I expect plenty of false starts before we actually get something I could fairly call springlike. It'll certainly be quite some time before I'm able to sit outside to read ponyfic, but here's what I've read this week while firmly indoors:

My Little Red Dwarf by JimmyZD
And The Serpent Said Unto The Princess by UndomeTimwe
Under the Harvest Moon by Rangelost
Her Song by marmalado
Without Another Word by Jack of a Few Trades

★: 1 | ★★: 1 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 1
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

Sounds of 2015, nos. 60 to 56

Here we are in February, then. Almost spring in these parts, at least in theory if usually a bit less so in practice. It doesn't seem all that long since I began on "Sounds of 2015", and yet here we are, rapidly closing in on halfway in the Equestrian Trot 100 music charts for that year. Before we go any further, here's the usual reminder of the rules. At leat one of the first three needs to happen to trigger inclusion; rule 4 is an additional one that's rarely used.

Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the/an original artist.
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this.
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out.
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion. 

In terms of inclusion this time, it's another week when there's a full set! The days of 2011 and 2012, when I had to skip at least one track on many occasions, seem a long way away now. Having said that, they'll probably come back to bite me next time, but that's Future Logan's problem! The list today:

60: OhPonyBoy – Only Pony
59: oodorato2 – Halloween Rocks!
58: Aviators – Dragonheart
57: Aurelleah – Forever
56: 4everfreebrony ft. Chi-Chi & Relative Pitch – Chant of Mirth

The introductory formalities out of the way, we can now proceed to the meat of the post: the actual songs! Here goes...

My Little Repeats 178: "Horse Play"

Yeah, I know, least surprising header image ever...

S8E07: "Horse Play"

28 Apr 2018

My original rating: ★★★★
IMDb score: 8.1

The one with Step! Buck! Leap! Touch!

Thoughts: Fluttershy is an alicorn princess? Five stars, next question. Ahem... this episode gets plenty of love from me for being one of the very rare Celestia-heavy eps out there. It is somewhat uneven, with some characterisation that really doesn't belong this far into the show, but it's also lots of fun. Applejack trying repeatedly to convince Twilight to be honest really tickled me for some reason. I can well believe Trixie selling dodgy back-street fireworks, though Pinkie's line about it is very clunky. Celestia herself is of course a bad actor,¹ though her (fortunately brief) anger with Twilight is real and of course in the actual crisis late on she demonstrates immense calmness and competence. The Student Six play nice little supporting roles on stage,² and Luna's late grumpiness at Tia's Sun-raising had me in stitches, brief as it was. This is far from a faultless episode, but I can forgive most of its faults as it's just so watchable. As such, though I'm nudging it down to three stars, I consider it really quite high in that band.
¹ Not in that sense. I hope.
² Though having six characters play unicorns, none of whom actually are unicorns? Tsk, I say.

Choice quote: Spike: "Now that's the best acting we've seen all day."

New rating: ★★★

The next episode on the list is "The Parent Map", which as I recall is an ep I found okay but no better, whereas I know some people greatly appreciated it. Who knows which category I will fall into on a repeat viewing?

Ponyfic Roundup 524

Read it Later story count: 91 (-1)

Words read this week: 26,034

It's been quite a busy week for me, though sadly a lot of what I was doing was boring stuff that didn't contain one single pony. Not anywhere. Can you imagine? Fortunately, Ponyfic Roundup is here today to take the edge off that dreadful situation. As is so often the case, there are five stories on the roster this week. They are:

Twilight Sparkle & The Martyr of Zephyr Mountain by PatchworkPoltergeist
Party Loyalty by forbloodysummer
Periselene by Marshal Twilight
A Foalsitter's Inspiration by Protector of Light
The Symposium by Orbiting Kettle

★: 0 | ★★: 3 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 0 | ★★★★★: 1
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

Sounds of 2015, nos. 65 to 61

Back we are again now with the next edition of "Sounds of 2015". We're more than a third of the way through the year's hits, and there have already been a few surprises and some songs which I think have been unfairly neglected in more recent times. Let's see what this week brings, and as ever I'll start by mentioning my rules for song inclusion:

Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the/an original artist.
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this.
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out.
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion. 

Guess what, folks, it's another week when I can feature all five of the songs! This is very unlikely to be the case for the entire rest of the chart, but I'm not going to complain when it happens! Here's the track list:

65: PrinceWhateverer – Left Behind
64: SquareHead – Tricks Up My Sleeve (remix)
63: Foozogz – I'll Fly (remix)
62: Silva Hound – Diamonds
61: Ferexes – Blank Space

Next, it's time for the actual songs, and the perhaps equally terrifying prospect of Logan rambling on about them. Off we go, pop pickers...

My Little Repeats 177: "Surf and/or Turf"

Scootaloo in a world of her own. She wishes...

S8E06: "Surf and/or Turf"

21 Apr 2018

My original rating: ★★★★
IMDb score: 7.7

The one with kelp chips

Thoughts: This was, and remains, one of my favourite episodes from Season Eight. The first of Brian Hohlfeld's three Friendship is Magic writing credits, it brings together a new location for the show, an enjoyable new guest character and the CMC on a Map mission. Apple Bloom is the voice of reason as the other two Crusaders grump at each other. The ep looks lovely by Flash FiM standards, even if understandably its Seaquestria can't match the film's beauty.¹ I really like the ponies' seapony designs, both Twilight's and the CMCs'. Terramar's dilemma is a fairly transparent attempt at portraying a child of divorced/separated parents without actually mentioning that aspect, but he's likeable enough that it works fine. Okay, as with so many other problems, it could have been solved with a bit of forethought before the Crusaders ever arrived, and Twilight's presence is just slightly irrelevant given how little time she actually spends chaperoning the fillies. What I love most, though, is Scootaloo's sheer joy at swimming, the closest she can get to flying. I can't stop smiling at that segment. I really liked watching "Surf and/or Turf" again, enough that I'm certainly letting it keep its four-star rating.
¹ Yeah, that iffy animation going down the stairs early on, but that's short enough that it doesn't stick too much in the mind.

Choice quote: Sweetie Belle: "I have some serious field twirling to do."

New rating: ★★★★

Next time, it'll be "Horse Play". This is an episode that gets very mixed responses, though I quite liked it and (based on a totally unscientific quick chat at a recent Worcester meet) I'm not the only one. We'll see whether I'm still of that opinion soon.

Ponyfic Roundup 523

Read it Later story count: 92 (nc)

Words read this week: 35,469

Hello everyone, Ponyfic Roundup day once more. Not too bad a word count by my standards this week, and despite various things getting in the way I didn't have to delay publication. Yay. Another five stories on the list for this week. I don't have a lot to say before we get going, so... let's get galloping! Here's what's in PR today:

The Light Goes Out by AbsoluteAnonymous
NYC Title 24 §4-03 by Admiral Biscuit
Lightning Pest by Casketbase77
The Ponies in the Caves by SockPuppet
The Conference Call by Dafaddah

★: 0 | ★★: 0 | ★★★: 4 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

Sounds of 2015, nos. 70 to 66

Apologies for the lack of activity on this blog over the last few days. Something else has been on my mind a fair amount (something personal, not what some of my US readers may be thinking), so Louder Yay has been a lower priority than usual. However, here we go again with another look back at the Equestrian Trot 100 music chart for the now decade-ago year 2015. The rules I use for deciding whether a song can be included remain unchanged:

Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the/an original artist.
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this.
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out.
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion. 

We've had a couple of weeks now when I've been able to feature all five of the songs in the relevant portion of the chart. And now, we do the treble! Here's the list for this edition:

70: Archie – Back Again
69: WoodLore – Let the Magic Fill Your Soul
68: SquareHead – Let's Have a Battle (remix)
67: MiatriSs – We'll Make Our Mark (remix)
66: Aviators – Crash

Here endeth the intro section. Beyond this point beginneth the non-intro section. Thou hast been warnèd!

Ponyfic Roundup 522

Read it Later story count: 92 (-5)

Words read this week: 30,840

I did say I wanted to get that RiL story count down, didn't I? Well, mission accomplished! As you'll see in the footer, there are more from that source to come, but the overall total may not change as much as I've ended my freeze on adding new fics to the pile. I've also had a couple of review requests – as a reminder, I do accept those but the wait is likely to be long. As far as stories reaching the front of the queue this week go, the slate is as follows:

The Cat-astrophe by Samey90
Heart of Gold by TCC56
She Kills Monsters by chiko
Coronavirus by Thought Prism
The Two Doctors by Silver Needle

★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 2 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.

Sounds of 2015, nos. 75 to 71

The frost and ice of recent days here is now gone and we're back to the usual English Midlands winter weather of being only slightly chilly with lots of cloud. At the moment I'm okay with that as I just wanted it to warm up, but before long I'll doubtless start really yearning for some sunshing. In the meantime, I'll have to content myself with some Pony music. My inclusion criteria follow as usual. At least one of these is needed:

Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the/an original artist.
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this.
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out.
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion. 

I'm very happy to say that, as with last week's selection, this time I can also feature all five songs. Admittedly two of them were also in the 2014 chart, but I doubt many of you will mind when you see what they are. Talking of which, here's the list:

75: TAPS – Battle
74: Sayonara Maxwell – Light of Your Cutie Mark (remix)
73: Starlight & IMShadow007 – Lonely Road
72: Vylet Pony ft. Lily Cloud – Starcrossed
71: ponyphonic – Harmony Ascendant

All right, that's quite enough of the introductory waffle. Let's get to the actual tunes!

My Little Repeats 176: Forgotten Friendship

For my original review of Forgotten Friendship, I saw the 44-minute TV edit since that's all that existed at the time! This time around, I watched the slightly extended version Hasbro uploaded to YouTube,¹ which can be a pain to find since it's listed under the alternative title Most Likely To Be Forgotten. Since almost nobody in the fandom ever uses that name to refer to either version, I'm sticking with Forgotten Friendship here.
¹ Albeit only in 720p...

"Review? What, like a behaviour review?"

Forgotten Friendship

17 Feb 2018 (original 44-minute TV edit)

My original rating: ★★★★
IMDb score: 7.3

The one with edible sunscreen

Thoughts: Well, like most Brits I don't care about high school yearbooks, but this special mostly overcomes that. Wallflower Blush isn't the most thrilling antagonist (though she does rather grow on me as time goes alone) and the Memory Stone being in CHS-world in the first place is a tad convenient, but get past that and the slightly tedious beach/photo stuff and the story clips along. Sunset Shimmer's meeting with Celestia – in Equestria, which was A Big Deal when this special came out – is memorable. She also has the toughest time, being treated after the memory spell as though her reformation didn't happen. Meanwhile Trixie surely revels in her enormously enjoyable role, and Sunset and her work nearly as well together as Trixie and Starlight do in Friendship is Magic. Convenient discovery of Clover's last page is convenient. "Invisible" is the better of the two songs, but neither are out-and-out smashes. I enjoyed this, though in truth a four is a little too generous. Nudging this down to a high three – which, let's not forget, is still a comfortably above-average score. Nick Confalone done good.

Choice quote: Sunset: "Princess Celestia has a sense of humour? Looks like I'm not the only one who's changed."

New rating: ★★★

Next time, it'll be back to Friendship is Magic and an episode that's held a place as one of my favourites from S8 ever since I first saw it: "Surf and/or Turf". I'm fairly confident I'll still like it, but I can't be absolutely sure until I actually re-view and review!

Ponyfic Roundup 521: Spotlight on The Cadenza Prophecies

Read it Later story count: 97 (+3)

Words read these three weeks: 105,861

Taking three weeks to get this review out, partly thanks to this platform not liking me for a while, has unsurprisingly led to my RiL list swelling a little bit. I really don't want it to get back into three figures, so for a few weeks I'll be prioritising stories from there and having at least four of the weekly five taken from that source, rather than grabbing two or three of them from other parts of Fimfiction as I usually do. Back to the Spotlight!

The Cadenza Prophecies by iisaw
Twilight, Tempest Shadow, OCs and Mane Six
G4 AU; Adventure; 106k words; Mar–Aug 2024; Teen (Violence)

The Storm King's invasion of Canterlot goes differently when a more callous and world-weary Twilight is present.

AU is definitely the term here: while the story opens with the attack on Canterlot we see in the 2017 film, here it doesn't succeed and once he finds that out, the Storm King is not happy. That has... implications. Tempest, meanwhile, becomes a POW on Twilight's airship – indeed, her story arc is particularly interesting. You absolutely need to have read previous instalments for this one to make any sense, as otherwise you're going to spend the whole time asking, "But why? ...who? ...where?" and so on. About Twilight's character, but not just about her. There's plenty of swashbuckling adventure (and a good thing too!) and not too much TwiLuna (see previous comment, YMMV of course). One new culture is especially intriguing, and it ain't Klugetown either, though we do go there. I'm not absolutely on board with the pacing of what happens regarding Twi's main target, and overall I do slightly prefer The Twilight Enigma, but if you've enjoyed this series thus far, I think you'll enjoy this one plenty too. A lowish four, but I'm comfortable giving it that four. More on that below the line. ★★★★

Spotlight as this is, abandon unspoileriness all ye who enter here.

Sounds of 2015, nos. 80 to 76

Good news, everyone! After being mightily obstructive for several days, Blogger is now back to normal and will let me make long posts and use formatting. That means that the Spotlight review of iisaw's The Cadenza Prophecies will be posted at some point on Wednesday as I previously trailed, and that I can first provide this week's edition of "Sounds of 2015". Well, vive to that and an éclair for both of us! Anyway, the usual reminder of my inclusion criteria:

Rule 1: Still available in the same or (1b) similar form direct from the/an original artist.
Rule 2: Available from a third party, with reason to believe the artist is fine with this.
Rule 3: So famous that it would be plain silly to leave it out.
Rule 4: Being unlisted is not, on its own, grounds for exclusion. 

Last week was an interesting one, with some tracks I liked more than others, but it was a full house of five included songs. This time, I can say the same again! To my mind, today's crop is a particularly fine one. Here's the list:

80: PonyFireStone – Battle of the Bands (remix)
79: Foozogz – Together
78: JoinedTheHerd – The Pony I Want To Be (JTH Remix)
77: Rarity ft. Lady Aria – Alone in the Dark
76: Wasteland Wailers – Mail It In

Here comes the choo-choo train jump break, if you happen to be on a device that recognises those things. Beyond that is the usual mixture, so off we go!

Apologies to iisaw

And to everyone else. Blogger is refusing to post anything remotely long or with any formatting or labels at all. As such I cannot post the review of The Cadenza Prophecies today. In the past when this happened it was sorted out in a day or two. Since I'm very busy for the next couple of days I think the best thing is to post the review on Wednesday all being well, since that is at least PR's normal day. Again, apologies. I can at least say that I liked the story!

Follow-up to yesterday's, and my last post on AI for some time

I made a post yesterday on the future of AI in the fandom, and it brought quite a few reactions. One of the first was from Aragón, who it seems to some extent got the wrong end of the stick and inferred that I approved of what I thought the near future would bring. I don't. His misinterpretation is my fault for not writing the post better, not his. A few other people have weighed in with their own thoughts, and I'm more than happy for other people to continue to do so if they wish.

I will make it clear, though, that for as long as it remains practically possible for me to do so, I will be refusing to review AI-generated ponyfic. The reviewing policy I set out a year and a half ago still stands: if I review a fic and later discover it was made by AI, its rating will be changed to zero. I support the Fimfiction requirement that stories are written by humans. (I think being written by ponies is also acceptable, fortunately.)

But although I expect to be writing about AI stuff again in the future, unless there's some big development that I really can't ignore I won't be writing about it again here for quite some time. You need have no fear that Louder Yay is going to turn into one of those sites where the owner spends his entire time banging on and on and on about the same subject, wondering why the world is not grasping the incontrovertible fact that He Is Right.

And now it's time to move on. Ponyfic Roundup and Sounds of 2015 updates are in the works for the coming week. Happy New Year, everycreature!