Ponyfic Roundup 487: Spotlight on How We Met

Read it Later story count: 94 (nc)

Words read this week: 49,651

Well look at that, it's Spotlight time again! No 300,000-word behemoth this time, though, but instead a story that clocks in at just under the 50k-word mark. I've read and liked some other Rated Ponystar fics – for example, Treating Her Right (PR 371). How We Met is an old story, something I did bear in mind, but I'm obviously a sucker for Fluttershy/Rainbow backstory or I wouldn't have written Where They Understand You myself all those years ago! Anyway, let's see how this one does.

How We Met by Rated Ponystar
Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash
G4; Romance/Slice of Life; 50k words; Feb–Oct 2012; Everyone

A story of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash's relationship from their first meeting to their end

You can probably tell where this is going by the combination of the title, the shortdesc and those genre tags – and you'd be right. This is a story which starts with the two as fillies, although the bulk of the action takes place after they've grown up, got their cutie marks and moved to Ponyville. There are some cute moments and even the mid-story shift from friendshipping to plain shipping isn't too clunky. The writing is generally serviceable but isn't going to win any awards for style, and there are too many typos, awkwardly constructed sentences etc. Also, as PaulAsaran noted, the as-it-was-being-written Author's Notes every chapter irritate more than they illuminate. Not a bad story, but very predictable indeed in its progression. Its age and the author's relative inexperience in 2012 do show and do cost it a bit. ★★

You'll doubtless know this by now, but, expect spoilers beyond this point!

My Little Repeats 161: "Daring Done?"

They do the sand dance, don't you know?

S7E18: "Daring Done?"

9 Sep 2017

My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 7.2

The one with hotel mini muffins

Thoughts: This is a G. M. Berrow episode, so you know what to expect, and for the most part you get it. This isn't one for those who want perfectly crafted writing, but it does have some nice world-building with the (admittedly shaky) Somnambula legend. A special note too for the visuals and even more so the music, which really is nice. Characterisation is pretty variable: A. K. Yearling not being a flawless hero is good and I rather like Pinkie Pie here, but I'm not so impressed by Rainbow Dash – you know you can fly to escape Caballeron's henchponies, girl? Talking of which, the "hah, no flying here!" thing is a bit irritating, though I don't object to it as much as some fans apparently do. But the worst thing is that (as I said in 2017) the air-vent solution to save Rainbow is absurdly out-of-nowhere, right down there at bunyip levels of eye-rollingness. The main reason I'm downgrading this from a three-star episode to a two is that it's so frustrating: it does well for the first two-thirds, but then it falls apart. So, so much more could have been done with the third act. Oh well, on we go.

Choice quote: A. K. Yearling: "They don't sell my books in southern Equestria." [Er... why not?]

New rating: ★★

Next time around, we'll reach "It Isn't the Mane Thing About You". This is an episode which tends to split those irritated by overly convenient plot hoof-waving and those who just want to kick back and relax with the ponies. I tend to be in camp two by this point in FiM's run, so I quite liked it.

Hoping to post a bit more

Mildly ironic that I'm posting this at a time when I'm not posting more, but that's simply because I am extremely busy this week. You'll have noticed that last week I had a run of seven successive days of posts. That was fun, but in truth is not where I expect to end up – rather somewhere in between, yes. The "Daring Done?" rewatch should be along early next week, and with that, "Sounds of 2014" and Ponyfic Roundup there'll be at least three updates before the following weekend. Hooves crossed!

Ponyfic Roundup 486

Read it Later story count: 94 (-1)

Words read this week: 34,257

In this week's intro, Logan will not be talking about 1960s pop groups. Sorry! Instead, he will mention that he has finally got hold of a £1 charity shop DVD of Titanic. The 1997 blockbuster, not the one with the rapping dog. No, it's not exactly difficult to find, but while I wanted to watch the film (I've never seen it!) I wasn't prepared to pay Amazon or Disney+ subscription prices to do so. Also, this way it's mine. I may report back when I've seen it, but more likely I'll forget. Anyway, today's fics are:

Ambulance Inspection Rejection by SockPuppet
Little Muffin Stand of Horrors by sister_mike
Above All Else by 8686
Sight by Slywolf930
Pieces of Me by DwarvishPony

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

Sounds of 2014: Nos. 90 to 86

Welcome back to our canter through the Equestrian Trot 100 chart of the most popular My Little Pony fandom songs of 2014. As a reminder, a track doesn't have to have been released in that year, just to have been popular enough to make the chart. As usual, I'll remind everyone of the criteria I use to decide whether a song should be included:

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.

Third time lucky today, in that once again in the 2014 series I'm not having to skip a song. At one point I thought I would, but... well, that's explained below. Here's what we have:

90: d.notive – Loveless Lovechild
89: Forest Rain et al – On Our Way
88: PsychGoth ft. Rina-Chan – Lulamoon
87: Aviators – Crash
86: Vylet Pony – Twilight's Kingdom (parts 1 & 2)

You probably know this by now, but beyond the jump break you'll find a little waffling about each of the five songs and YouTube videos to match. Onward!

Looking back at Kicking Back

Previously in this series: Sunset's Sales Snag, Ever Let the Fancy Roam

It's been several months since I posted anything in this series, so let's alter that! As before, I've let a random number generator pick which story I'm going to feature, and it's come back with Kicking Back. This is a fic which I wrote as a bit of silly fun but which did slightly better than anticipated. Not the most overperforming story I've had, but even now it's still mentioned occasionally.

This is a Cloud Kicker story, inspired by her personality in the first chapter of Chengar Qordath's highly popular The Life and Times of a Winning Pony. The reason I emphasise first chapter is that it's all I knew of at the time: in that fic Cloudy's story becomes deeper later on, but to start with she's seen as not that much more than a sex-obsessed airhead. That was what I found amusing to pick up on.

While Kicking Back isn't even remotely close to M-rated territory, it does go a little more down the innuendo route than I generally prefer. My usual complaint when stories do that is that there's no particular reason for it, but here it seemed integral to Cloud Kicker's personality, or at least the part of it I was using here. I tried to keep the tone light and fun, and I think I did fairly well there.

You see, in this story Cloud Kicker's reputation is not justified, and she's getting seriously tired of it. She even goes to the extent of hiring an image consultant. It... ah... doesn't go quite as she'd planned. I still smile at some of my descriptions of her sometimes physical rages when something goes horribly wrong – and so I think I got the humour level pretty much where I wanted it.

Would I have changed much? In all honesty, no, not really. Kicking Back isn't some great piece of ponyfic for the ages, but then it wasn't written to be one. I think it stands up quite nicely as what it is: a tea-break fic for those looking to, well, kick back and relax for a few minutes with perhaps a few laughs along the way. All the more so if you enjoy a little humorous wordplay.

One thing I will say is that you'll probably get more out of this if you have read at least the odd bit of Winningverse fiction. On the other hoof, you may for the same reason find it irritating and a bit one-notey. Maybe the ideal audience is the one I was part of when writing it: someone who knows about Cloud Kicker's reputation but hasn't yet read on to the other 300,000 words of Winning Pony!

Ponyfic Roundup 485

Read it Later story count: 95 (nc)

Words read this week: 34,262

This is apropos of not a lot, and not remotely related to ponyfic, but I have been listening to and greatly enjoying songs by The Seekers, especially those from their 1960s heyday. In my view, Judith Durham had one of the finest voices ever to grace the charts. My own pick would be "The Carnival is Over", a huge hit internationally (except in the USA) that was so popular in the UK that it kept The Who's "My Generation" off the top of the charts in 1965. That band never did have a British number one. All right, now it's time for ponyfic!

Labors at Sunrise by NaiadSagaIotaOar
A Tryst at Midnight by Cosmonaut
How the Foundation Ruined Nightmare Night by Drefsab
flith2 by Fluttergail
White Out by the dobermans

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