Read it Later story count: 90 (-1)
Words read this week: 20,155
The Dusty Trail by unicorncob
Breezing to New Heights by Shaslan
Father's Pride in a Daughter's Stride by sweeT2010Tooth
Thanks, Mom by Oroboro
Chapter One by Estee
★: 0 | ★★: 2 | ★★★: 1 | ★★★★: 2 | ★★★★★: 0
Note: I use a skewed rating system. A fic I enjoy an average amount scores two stars.
The Dusty Trail by unicorncob
Lightning Dust, Rainbow Dash and OC
G4; Drama/Slice of Life; 6k words; Nov 2016; Everyone
A down-on-her-luck Lightning Dust tries out to be a courier
Lightning Dust has been out of work for the three years since being chucked from the Wonderbolts, but at last she's got a chance. Except that her test run is to deliver a package to... Rainbow Dash. Who has to complete a report card on how well she did. Lightning's somewhat self-absorbed anger meeting Rainbow's surprising (to Dusty) laid-backness is quite nicely done, and seeing Lightning process this is interesting. It does meander a bit in the second half, though. Top-end two. ★★
Breezing to New Heights by Shaslan
Zephyr, Pipp, Zipp and Fluttershy
G4/G5; Slice of Life; 2k words; Oct 2025; Everyone
“I’m sick of this!” Zephyr said loudly, stomping his hoof. “I’m sick of the way you treat me!” ~ “I’m sick of this!” Pipp snarled, hurling her phone down onto the sofa. “I’m so sick of the way you treat me.”
This won a siblings fic contest. Zipp and Pipp are arguing: the latter even uses the phrase "gaslight gatekeep girlboss" in anger. This thread is alternated with a conversation between Fluttershy and Zephyr from the G4 past. The latter is off to do... something; the former is visiting. We find out – and as a result, why these two strands are interwound. Cleverly done, and with a nice change from the usual "loser" version of Zephyr. I found this pretty satisfying. ★★★★
Father's Pride in a Daughter's Stride by sweeT2010Tooth
Pinkie Pie
G4; Slice of Life; 1k words; May 2013; Everyone
Pinkie Pie's back story in being the element of laughter is told through the words of her father.
Igneous Rock narrates, and this is pretty much a "does exactly what it says on the shortdesc tin" story. Igneous speaks verbosely and without drama, as one might expect, and there a few nuggets of world-building: I liked the affinity between rock farmers and masons. As a monologue, the deliberately dry style does unfortunately make things clunky at times ("I am a stallion who doesn't show much emotional expressions in his outward appearance") but I really like a concept Igneous uses to provide a link between his worldview and Pinkie's. That takes it back up to a solid two. ★★
Thanks, Mom by Oroboro
Twilight and Twilight Velvet
G4; Slice of Life; 2k words; May 2015; Everyone
When Twilight visits home for Mother's Day, along with Shining Armor, Cadance, and their newborn daughter, she learns that a mother's work is never truly finished.
Mother's Day is in May in the US, hence this fic's publication date. Twilight and Spike visit their parents for Mother's Day. Shining and Cadance are there too, with their daughter (still "Skyla" here) for the same reason. This is sweet and gently amusing, and Velvet is practical in the way some grandmothers just are (my Granny was). A fine choice for a low-stakes story you can just sink into like a warm bath. Top-end three. ★★★
Chapter One by Estee
OCs
G4; Tragedy; 9k words; Mar 2025; Teen
He may still be in primary school, but Basal Foundation has figured out the secret of writing. All you ever need is the start, because Chapter One is always perfect. In fact, it's so perfect that he's going to write it again. And again. And again...
Well, this is cheery, I must say, but then you can't say I wasn't warned with that [Tragedy] tag, can you? Basal Foundation is a writer. He knows he's a writer. And he knows how Chapter One must go. He's pretty obsessed with it, but as we go along we pick up fragments of what's happening away, why he keeps going to new schools, how his smallness figures into his life, and more and more besides. The ending is a bit of a gut-punch, though one I think some readers may see coming. ★★★★
Next time, I'll have a Comedy Edition! It will once again be the usual five shortfics. Here they are:
Twilight's Almost Last Nightmare Night by Anotherrandom
Chaos Theory by cerealkiller78
Spring Fever by Takarashi282
We Learned Something Obsolete by Lise
Hungry Games by lunabrony
I've read "Thanks, Mom," and I liked it a little less than you just because the warm snuggly feeling isn't enough on its own to impress me, and there just wasn't much consequential about this, but it was well-written for what it is—not surprising, given the author's a good one.
ReplyDeletedamn, Princess Skyla, what a trip, what a freaking blast from the past lmao
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