Read it Later story count: 91 (-1)
Words read this week: 20,712
"Do wings turn you gay, Headmare Twilight?" by semillon
A Letter to Father by Silvermyr
The Roles We (Are Fated to) Play by AltruistArtist
Lumen de Lumine by Noriko Nakayama
The Only Way is Forwards by Once In A Blue Moon
★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 2 | ★★★★: 1 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.
"Do wings turn you gay, Headmare Twilight?" by semillon
Silverstream and Twilight
G4; Romance/Comedy/Slice of Life; 1k words; Jan 2020; Teen (Sex, Profanity)
"Because I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and there’s not a single creature with wings I can think of who is exclusively attracted to the opposite sex.”
This fic is set some years after the show, so don't worry, everycreature is an adult. Silverstream asks Twilight the question in the title. If you've read semillon fics of this kind before, you'll know roughly what to expect, but if not? It has a nice build-up with discussion of how all the pegasi in Equestria are basically gay, a couple of nicely judged jokes (the Flash Sentry one stands out) and then an amusing escalation at the end. It doesn't hit absolutely centre for me as I'm generally not that into sex comedies, but it does enough right that I feel it deserves a good rating, so a three it is. I feel this sits near the top of the T rating, since although nothing explicit happens on-screen, there's open discussion of specific sexual activities. ★★★
A Letter to Father by Silvermyr
Cozy Glow and Svengallop
G4; Slice of Life; 1k words; May 2019; Everyone
Cozy Glow sends a letter to her father, Svengallop.
This is the first in a three-story series about Cozy's relatives, and I'm pleased to say all of the choices are interesting and original. I'll probably read the other two. As its title implies, A Letter to Father is in epistolatory format, and happily it feels like a letter more than many fics of this kind too. Cozy's personality comes through nicely, and there's a pleasing balance of cuteness and psychosis. Even emoticons work in text for once. A little bit of comedy with Grogar right at the start, but otherwise the focus is right on Cozy. I was unsure whether this setup would work, but it does. Top-end three. ★★★
The Roles We (Are Fated to) Play by AltruistArtist
Flurry Heart, Cozy Glow, Cadance and Twilight
G4; Romance/Dark/Drama; 14k words; Sep 2023; Teen (Death)
Princess Flurry Heart becomes infatuated with the filly imprisoned in the statue.
Another Cozy story, but a much meatier one. Flurry is twelve years old here, and Cadance has just told her that she's immortal. This is the author's oldest fic, and my goodness it's a fine debut. It's also one of those stories that infuriates reviewers because the thing that makes it work so well is also an absolutely enormous spoiler. I can tell you that an apparition of Cozy – who remains in stone in the castle gardens – appears to Flurry, and that she (Flurry) wants to find out why her, why now. As PaulAsaran observed, we end up with an origin story for both ponies. Yes, Flurry gets one. No, I can't explain that here either. I can say that the loneliness of her position is explored, and that this has a bearing. The prose is occasionally irritatingly overblown ("she left the room on a somnambulant trod") but... yeah, I know this is not what you want to read from a reviewer, but trust me on this: the confusion of most of the story will be blown away by the twist when it hits. So, probably, will you. A high four and strongly recommended. ★★★★
Lumen de Lumine by Noriko Nakayama
Twilight
G4; Romance/Drama; 1k words; Oct 2024; Teen
Twilight Sparkle reflects on her relationship with Celestia
Yes, this is TwiLestia – at least of a sort – so if that squicks you in and of itself, probably best to move on. But it's a rather more interesting story than that, and it makes me a little sad that this author came and went in just a few weeks with only three stories and two followers to their name. The interest here comes from the fact that Twi knows that having a crush on Celestia is unhealthy, yet she consciously refuses to care. It's a pity the ending falls back into the kind of cliché the rest of the story generally avoids, and that's why Lumen de Lumine stalls at a respectable but not stellar highish two-star rating. ★★
The Only Way is Forwards by Once In A Blue Moon
Fluttershy, Twilight, Applejack and Winona
G4; Slice of Life; 3k words; Apr 2015; Everyone
A short story in which Fluttershy learns how friendship can help her become braver.
The author's only fic, and from the shortdesc you might expect a very basic story full of obvious writing inexperience. It starts out that way, with unnecessary "purple unicorn" stuff, but in fact the vocabulary is quite wide and there are some nice touches: Twilight admitting that toxicology isn't her strong suit, especially when the lessons don't "quite rhyme properly". There's never much mystery as to where this story is going in general, especially as it seems to be set much earlier than its just-pre-S5 publication date. The details are nice, though, especially the use of an ill Winona. Another high two, and if the author had stuck around I'd have been interested to see their progress. ★★
I think it's probably time for another Spotlight edition, which for those of you new to this blog means that I read a rather longer story and review it in somewhat more detail. Next week's fic will be one I've had on my Read it Later list for a while now, and one that those who are famliar with my previous reviews will not be at all surprised to see appear on the slate:
Redheart's War by SockPuppet
I really need to read further fics of AlturistArtist (not unlike Botched Lobotomy, they only seem to pop up to write in contests, and justifiably place highly pretty much every time). This one still sticks with me over a year later, and that Flurry and Cozy are kids and its not a ship between the two is only one of the many reasons why. That twist really is just the best kind (except for us ponyfic reviewers!), that both takes your breath away, stirs you something fierce, and redefines not only the story to that point, but often your understanding of the character(s) and their roles in the source material. Even as twisted as this can get.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Silverstream & Twilight story up above, well, considering all the other coincidences the fandom mines for comedy, that more pegasi tend to be fan shipped in gay ships than the other two tribes is far from the least plausible, I'll concede that!
Yeah, I really was impressed, and I think most people were. At least I know *you* know the twist, so you know what I mean! :P
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