Author Archives: Horizon

Antiquarian’s “The Tab”

26 Friday Oct 2018

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We hope you plan to pick up today’s story.

The Tab
[Comedy] [Sad] [Slice of Life] [Alternate Universe] • 4,092 words

Years have passed since the Crystal War ended. Twilight Sparkle visits an old haunt to spend some time catching up with her friends. Then comes the question of who picks up the tab.

FROM THE CURATORS: When most stories on a topic crank their drama up to 11, finding fics with the confidence to take a more nuanced approach can be like stumbling across an oasis in a desert.  “After ‘The Cutie Re-Mark’,” FanOfMostEverything said in his nomination, “stories set after the war with Sombra have become something of a subgenre, most of them little more than vehicles for PTSD angst or Rainbow Dash wing amputation drama. The Tab is not one of those stories. It seeks to capture the full spectrum of the veteran’s potential experience in readjusting to peacetime conditions.”  As this story sped toward a feature, Soge agreed: “If there is one big thing right this fic does, it is its distinct portrayal of how trauma affects different people differently.”

There was so much to like, though, that we all cited different elements as our favorites.  “Its greatest strength shines in folding the exposition that any AU has to churn out into fantastic character interaction between the Canterlot friends,” FanOfMostEverything said.  “The subtext here is rich and plentiful, from Twilight keeping metric time to Twinkleshine’s nickname to a single sentence that says volumes about Rainbow Dash’s status in this timeline.”  (Soge agreed: “That it speaks so much of its world building — rarely directly alluding to it — is phenomenal.”) Present Perfect appreciated the characters: “They are all distinctly themselves … Twilight especially comes off as ‘Twilight, after serving in a war’.”  And Horizon liked its framing: “It’s a story about good (and authentic) ponies being good (and authentic) to each other,” he said.  “And that’s its power: showing us the beating heart of its characters, affected by their experiences but not defined by them.”

In the end, it was simply exemplary execution which carried the fic.  “There’s not really anything surprising about it, but it does a damned fine job portraying post-war life,” Present Perfect said.  The surprise, Soge said, came in the emotions that it prompted: “It is a powerful and emotional story, with sublime characterization, and a real humanity and care for the characters involved.  The actual ‘tab’ scene got me all teary-eyed.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Antiquarian discusses surrounding heroes, sacred stupidity, and the heroism of everyday life.
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alt-tap’s “An Ordinary Day”

19 Friday Oct 2018

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Today’s story is no ordinary tale.

An Ordinary Day
[Slice of Life] • 5,436 words

Fluttershy lives a happy life. Every day is special. All of her friends are lovely ponies.

Today is a day just like any other; she wakes in the morning, does her chores, sees her friends, takes a nap and sees more of her friends before an evening of relaxation.

Just an ordinary, wonderful day.

FROM THE CURATORS: One interesting aspect of fanfiction is that — much more than published fiction — it’s a living medium, with stories changing over time.  And sometimes, you stumble across the sort of story that makes you thrilled you gave it a second look.  “Once upon a time, I read and reviewed this for Scribblefest 2016,” Horizon said in his nomination.  “I was blown away by the gorgeous and literary prose, at turns intimate and philosophical, and the incidental worldbuilding; I wasn’t so impressed by the many textual errors. However, I am thrilled to say that the story has since been polished to a fine shine.”  That sentiment was widely shared, with reactions like FanOfMostEverything’s: “Gorgeous is right. I’ve never seen a take on Fluttershy quite like this one.”

Almost every aspect of that take came in for praise — sometimes all at once.  “This has absolutely everything I look for in a Fluttershy story,” AugieDog said while assigning it a top score.  “A gentle pace, beautiful language, understated humor, semi-requited love, quiet insight, a tender sort of melancholy, and kindness infusing it from beginning to end.”  But while the story as a whole drew widespread raves, it was the story’s unusual focus which often got singled out for praise.  As FanOfMostEverything noted: “There’s a fascinatingly animistic aspect to the perspective here, where even the cottage’s squeaky floorboards deserve Fluttershy’s consideration just as much as any of her other friends.”

Amid all of that, the story did exactly what its description promised: simply showed us a day in Fluttershy’s life.  And yet its depth made it so much more.  “It’s got very much an ‘infinite space in a nutshell’ feel to it,” AugieDog said, “showing us the whole world of Equestria by focusing on these very specific images, these very specific moments, so small as to almost be non-events, in Fluttershy’s life.”  Ultimately, what impressed us most was the way it captivated us with those non-events.  “The prose is lush and engrossing, definitely the big thing right, and the author has a knack for writing single sentences that powerfully encapsulate a character,” Present Perfect said.  “This proves that you can write a story about nothing in particular without it being dull.”

Read on for our author interview, in which alt-tap discusses drunken Bs, buttery heads, and adventure couscous.
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Cherax’s “Sundowner Season”

05 Friday Oct 2018

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It’s always a good season to read today’s story.

Sundowner Season
[Drama] [Sad] • 21,493 words

With a heavy heart and an empty journal, Rarity heads north.

FROM THE CURATORS: “Cherax is more well known as a musician,” Soge said in his nomination, “but in Sundowner Season she shows quite the writing chops. In it we follow Rarity, taking a long trip to the farthest reaches of Equestria, with a purpose in mind which only becomes clearer to the reader — and to her — as we reach the end of the trip.”  Along the way, there was plenty to like.  “I loved the atmosphere and the sundowners themselves,” RBDash47 said, with AugieDog adding: “Rarity’s voice in the journal sections and in the third-person POV parts is simply phenomenal.  She changes during the course of the story, but she’s always recognizably herself.”  And while the story also accumulated some critiques during our voting process, we collectively found it winning us over.  “It starts at such a slow burn that I had to begin the story four different times before I made it past Canterlot,” Horizon said.  “And yet I was won over by how artfully everything was done … I came away impressed.”

The digressions during that lengthy unfolding were polarizing, but there was one thing on which we were unanimous: the exemplary touch provided by the story’s many well-chosen details.  “I liked how Rarity kept traveling to progressively smaller and more remote settlements as her ability to deny the reason behind her journey dwindled,” FanOfMostEverything noted, while RBDash47 said: “I also got a kick out of the formatting choice of setting flashbacks off by right-aligning them; I feel like it was a nice way of accentuating the ‘back and forth’ of Rarity’s inner turmoil.”  Although a few details were unintentionally personally disorienting: “Why am I in this story?” Present Perfect asked.

And what tipped the vote was the story’s lush, deliberate pacing.  “The big thing right for me was the slow drip-drip-drip of revealing exactly why Rarity was feeling what she was feeling and why she was going on this journey to begin with,” RBDash47 said.  Horizon summed it up similarly: “It was that slow rolling reveal most driving my vote; it worked well in concert with the story’s pacing and the gentle leavening of the distractions,” he said.  “This is a tightly controlled story which asks the reader to follow along exactly in its footsteps, but I found it repaid that investment of trust.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Cherax discusses interstate buses, snow biomes, and pastel distances.
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Summer Dancer’s “Sandbox”

28 Friday Sep 2018

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Today’s story doesn’t play around when it comes to adorable-yet-poignant pony portrayals.

Sandbox
[Slice of Life] • 3,045 words

When trying to focus on her studies, Sunset Shimmer is stuck watching an annoying little filly who just won’t let her study.

FROM THE CURATORS: “This is a short, sweet, and magnificently characterized glimpse of Twilight’s formative years, back when Sunset Shimmer was still in Celestia’s good graces and accidentally influencing her successor,” FanOfMostEverything said in his nomination.  And while you might look at the “Everyone” age rating and hnnng-inducing cover art and assume that “short and sweet” is the entirety of the story, there’s far more to it than that.  “The layers are what really impress here,” Present Perfect said.  “You have the very clear comparison being made between Sunset and Twilight, without it ever being stated outright.  Then there are the machinations going on in the background, that are a bit more subtle but nevertheless present.  And Sunset being mean to foals is its own reward.”

What sent the fic over the top in our voting was the care with which it walked that tightrope and brought its show backstory to life.  “It’s always lovely when an author knows how to take a bit of headcanon and turn it into an actual story,” AugieDog said.  “Too often, writers will just have the characters state the idea without going through the process necessary to truly shape it into a narrative.”  But those characters came in for their share of praise, too.  “Twilight feels like herself, not just some generic cute filly doing generic cute filly things,” FanOfMostEverything said.  “All of Sunset’s layers are in full force, from the noble person she’ll become to the massive jerk that’s years away from getting knocked down a peg. And the ways Sunset unwittingly molds Twilight’s young mind are brilliant and somewhat tragic by turns.”

And yet, for all its drama, we still found the story melting our hearts.  “The whole thing wraps up into a perfect little slice of life-from-the-past,” Present Perfect said, and AugieDog was equally effusive: “This story is just sharp all the way around.”  All in all, not only was it a story exemplary on multiple levels, it was also an economical one.  “It is one of those stories that manage to do a lot with very little,” Soge said, “interlocking some powerful pre-canon character interactions, a bit of worldbuilding, as well as highlighting very well the differences — and similarities — between Sunset then, and Twilight later.  That it manages so much in just 3k words is nothing short of impressive.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Summer Dancer discusses teen definition, ponk bias, and post-bandage sarcasm.
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Lost + Found Features: “Conversations with Eternity” / “Chuckling Over My Cheery-O’s”

21 Friday Sep 2018

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Occasionally, exemplary stories earn our approval for a feature — but the author opts out of our interview, or we’re unable to complete the interview process despite repeated effort.  We’d like to see these great stories get their time in the spotlight too, so today we’re presenting a pair of RCL-approved tales for your reading pleasure.

 

Conversations with Eternity
By Sunchaser
[Adventure] [Alternate Universe] • 6,078 words

Far off to the west of Equestria lay The Eternal Lands, an immense expanse of desert that holds at its heart a precious jewel: the city of Gallopfree, sprung up around a peculiar bit of water known as the Well of Eternity.

Prodded by a little whimsical intuition, Princess Luna finds herself walking those winding streets of her ancient past, and holding conference with the enigmatic Steward of the Well…

FROM THE CURATORS: Some premises — such as modern Luna coming to grips with her past — have been covered so thoroughly that it’s difficult to make a story about them stand out. This, however, turned our heads with its rich and rewarding details.  “The prose is marvelous, dense yet economical,” Present Perfect said.  “The actual conversation, pep talk if you will, is fantastic, putting this leaps and bounds ahead of numerous other ‘Luna dealing with having been Nightmare Moon’ stories.”  Former curator Chris’ nomination lauded the care which went into its construction: “The fic shows us her emotional reactions, leaving us to place their sources for ourselves.  A quick, inattentive reading here might result in the reader thinking Luna’s actions are abrupt and unbelievable, but in fact those actions are hints that paint a much larger picture of both her, and the world at large.”  It quickly qualified for a feature amid reactions like AugieDog’s: “It’s always nice to see visions of Celestia and Luna’s lives before they came to Equestria, and this one’s very nicely realized.”

It wasn’t just the character work singled out for praise.  “Sunchaser does a commendable job with the setting, too,” Chris said, prompting Present Perfect to agree: “Gallopfree is rendered in full detail, not just in terms of imagery, but also history.”  And the themes added a great deal of power, too: “I quite like the idea that breaking just allows for a stronger reassembly,” AugieDog said.  “It give the last line all kinds of weight.”

 

Chuckling Over My Cheery-O’s
By chrumsum
[Comedy] • 4,419 words

Pinkie Pie’s simple morning ritual threatens to shatter her very perception of reality, life, and choice in breakfast cereal.

FROM THE CURATORS: It’s very rare for love-it-or-hate-it stories to make it through our voting process — so when they do, it’s a sign that they get the most crucial things right.  “This story contains everything anyone could ever want from a ‘Pinkie has an existential crisis’ fic and even more,” AugieDog said in his nomination.  “Unlike any other Pinkie Angst story I can think of, this one pulls other ponies into the miasma, and seeing Rainbow Dash succumb to the atmosphere of uncertain dread that Pinkie is exuding is a pleasure in and of itself.”  The entire cast was repeatedly complimented: “Something about the characters kind of hearkens back to the ‘good old days’ of the early seasons for me,” RBDash47 said, while FanOfMostEverything quipped: “It’s delightful seeing Pinkie spiral deep into her own navel, or possibly the aftertaste-ridden grainy ring of a Cheery-o … there’s excellent use of every character involved, and a great way to come up for breath at the end.”

What divided us was the contrast between tone and content.  “It is incredibly overwritten, to the point of being distracting,” Soge said, spurring several spirited defenses such as Horizon’s: “To me that artificial melodrama enhances the absurdity, giving it the edge it needs to be genuinely funny.”  RBDash47 agreed: “A couple lines, like ‘Tears blossomed along her cheeks. “It’s only as evil as we are,” she whispered’, made me laugh out loud.”  In the end, it was that comedy which put it over the top: “This was a great little romp,” Horizon said, “too over-the-top to take seriously and yet too serious to feel unmoored.”

[Note: Present Perfect recused himself from nomination and voting for this story.]

Read more features right here at the Royal Canterlot Library, or suggest stories for us to feature at our Fimfiction group.

ChibiRenamon’s “Conquering is Easy, Being Conquered is Hard”

14 Friday Sep 2018

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It wasn’t hard to let today’s story conquer our hearts.

Conquering is Easy, Being Conquered is Hard
[Romance] [Comedy] [Drama] [Alternate Universe] • 26,653 words

Rarity’s quest for love led her from Tartarus to Canterlot. Now, wielding powers beyond comprehension, she rules over Equestria.

Now, if only she could understand how Fluttershy’s little cult had gained thousands of members virtually overnight, or why the cult’s second-in-command, Twilight Sparkle, always seems to be one step ahead of her…

FROM THE CURATORS: Writing a story that solidly paints a single theme or tone is difficult enough — and when you’re trying to mix such disparate elements as humor, romance, character drama, and the epic clash of a tyrant with an apocalyptic doom cult, it takes a steadier than usual hand.  “This story’s simultaneously dark and high-spirited wackiness is very much a Big Thing Right in my mind,” AugieDog said in his nomination, and the fic quickly earned a feature amid comments like Horizon’s: “I’ve got a special place in my heart for stories which sell an audacious premise, and this squarely scratches that itch.”

One thing on which we all agreed was how elegantly the story’s depiction of its familiar-yet-altered ponies grounded that audacity.  “It transcends its crackfic-competition origins for me through the characters and through the comedy,” AugieDog said.  “Shining Armor is a high point, still Captain of the Royal Guard, as is Kibitz, Celestia’s old secretary, who Rarity has kept on since he actually knows how the government works.”  Horizon added: “A lot of thought clearly went into not only how the circumstances of the unusual AU would have changed all the characters, but also how they would go about pursing their interests.”  And RBDash47 chimed in: “I have to second my appreciation for the character work here. Every single one is on point, with a unique, developed voice that fits them perfectly. I don’t think I’d need any dialogue tags at any given time to know who was speaking, and I enjoyed every interaction.”

We found that sharp character work augmented by on-point humor.  “The first chapter, especially, is a triumph of absurdity, aware of this fact, and delights in nothing more than reveling in its own whimsy,” Present Perfect said.  And exemplary exposition work rounded the story out: “I was delighted by how effortlessly and subtly the author wove the explanations of the AU’s differences into the story,” RBDash47 said.  “I never felt confused or like I didn’t know what was going on, even with some fairly big changes to the timeline.”  It all added up to a truly head-turning package.  “It helped that the comedy was smart and endlessly quotable, but more importantly, the story kept surprising and delighting me at every turn with its central battle(s) of wits,” Horizon said.  “I don’t often follow an author on the strength of a single story, but here, that decision was a no-brainer.”

Read on for our author interview, in which ChibiRenamon discusses elliptical planning, regular flossing, and clawing … couches.
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Jack of a Few Trades’ “Without Another Word”

31 Friday Aug 2018

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We’d like to give you a good word about today’s story.

Without Another Word
[Drama] [Sad] • 11,912 words

Seven years have passed since Grand Pear moved to Vanhoover, and time has dulled the pain of leaving Pear Butter behind. Though the scars remain, life for the Pear family has done its best to return to normal.

But one day, a letter from Ponyville comes in the mail.

FROM THE CURATORS: The Perfect Pear is one of the most moving and beloved episodes of MLP’s recent seasons, so stories based on it have a high bar to clear — a challenge which this fic exceeded with grace.  As Soge noted in his nomination, “Powerful stuff … Without Another Word does what fanfiction does best, by exploring the empty spaces left behind by canon.”  And Present Perfect summed up our assessment: “Grand Pear is perhaps the greatest tragic figure of MLP:FiM, beating out even Cranky Doodle Donkey’s decade-long search for love. This story gets how someone could do what he did, how they could live with it, and how none of it would be easy. Every last drop of possible emotion is wrung from a pure, natural understanding of his character.”

That was accomplished, Soge said, “thanks to some very well realized characterization work, and a tone which manages to feel heavy and yet avoid falling into melodrama.”  Several other curators also praised the treatment of the Pear family, such as AugieDog: “The character details elevate it right into the clouds — Grand Pear’s relationship with his wife and with the griffon bartender especially, but also with his other children and the folks who come into his shop,” he said.  “It displays a real understanding of the sort of person who would do this to himself and to his family.”  And FanOfMostEverything added, “The fleshing out of his wife when the episode gave us absolutely nothing to work with was fantastic.”

The character work was also enhanced by a finely crafted structure.  “I feel the strongest part of this story is its use of unreliable narration,” FanOfMostEverything said.  “At first, we see Grand Pear how he wants to be seen, as the strong central pillar of his family, the source of order in the chaos. It takes an emotional breakdown, other perspectives, and too much straight whiskey to peel back the layers and show what’s really been going on.”  And ultimately, what that added up to was something all of us commented on — the raw emotional power on display.  “This story hit me hard,” Soge said, and AugieDog concurred: “This doesn’t pull any of the punches Grand Pear’s got coming.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Jack of a Few Trades discusses starry-eyed phases, fruit glue, and hailstorm baptisms.
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Flutterpriest’s “Feathers”

24 Friday Aug 2018

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Fall into today’s story for some gripping drama.

Feathers
[Dark] [Drama] • 2,466 words

When the pegasi lose their feathers, they also lose the ability to walk on clouds. The answer to ‘why’ is lost to time. The real question is … what happens to Cloudsdale?

FROM THE CURATORS: Some stories are compelling because they’re driven by a premise which grabs you right from the start.  And when that happens, it’s doubly exciting to find execution which is just as exemplary.  “The central idea of Feathers is immediately powerful and uniquely pony (if you spot it the existence of TV),” Horizon said in his nomination, “and it keeps a tight focus, driving a claustrophobic mood which is jarred quite effectively by the few outside encounters we see.”  Feathers cruised to a feature amid a chorus of similar praise.  “I compared this story to The Twilight Zone, with its ability to build tension through a sense of dread, which all pays off in one of the best final lines in this fandom,” Present Perfect said, while FanOfMostEverything agreed: “I have to say that this is an incredibly impactful story that gets a lot of mileage out of its oppressive atmosphere.  This is far from my usual taste, but I’m happy to push this one over the edge … and given the subject matter, I apologize for the incidental puns.”

One element of the powerful mood was the story’s excellent framing, keeping the audience focused for maximum emotional punch.  “It very much feels like a small slice of a much larger crisis, and the small stakes of the protagonists just underline their terror and lack of agency,” Horizon said.  Soge noted that it did a remarkable job of drawing horror from the mundane: “The fic creates some wonderful atmosphere with a uniquely Equestrian plague, which turns a familiar environment into a hostile one, and the concept behind it is extremely interesting — being trapped in your own home, on your own furniture, no chance of escape.”  Or, as Present Perfect put it, “Who cares about lava when the floor is clouds?”

But the character work also made a strong contribution.  “Rainbow Dash’s parents feel distinctly true to their canon characters while having the over-the-top exuberance dialed back just a tad,” Present Perfect said. “They’re definitely about the last ponies you’d expect to star in a horror fic, but they work as the stars here.”  FanOfMostEverything commented on that as well: “I think the moment that stands out the most for me is when Bow argues against helping the mare all but begging for assistance,” he said.  “This is what this plague has done. This is how far this stallion has fallen. … I swear I’m not trying to make these puns. They just keep happening.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Flutterpriest discusses nice blankets, seen tomatoes, and Sparkledeath Metallidash.
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anonpencil’s “Broken Bindings”

10 Friday Aug 2018

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Today’s story is a real page-turner.

Broken Bindings
[Dark] [Horror] [Mystery] • 23,036 words

Twilight has given you a new book to read. Well, she didn’t exactly give it to you, you actually just found it in the back of the library. Behind a shelf. On the ground. It looks very old, downright ancient, and it smells like moss and rot. The binding is a little cracked, and there’s no title on it. You can’t help but wonder what might be inside, and the only way to find out is to keep reading.

Just turn the page.

You can do that much, can’t you?

Please?

FROM THE CURATORS: Notable fanfiction can bring to life ideas that are too big for the show — but even among exemplary stories, it’s not every day you see ideas that are also too big for traditional prose.  “anonpencil’s most recent work — I hesitate to call it just a ‘fic’ — is impressive,” RBDash47 said in his nomination.  “Beyond the pure fic/storytelling aspect, pencil spent months building a multimedia experience that takes full advantage of the publishing format: this is not a story that could ever exist in book form, or even really as an ebook.”  And while that novelty caught our collective eye, what earned this a feature was its solid quality.  “There are plenty of other fics which toy with formatting,” Soge said. “What sets Broken Bindings apart is that it does these things well.”

He wasn’t the only one impressed.  “There’s substance in all of this stylish packaging, and it is some beautifully haunting work,” FanOfMostEverything said.  “anonpencil used literary devices as thoroughly and as well as she did hyperlinks and multimedia integration.”  RBDash47 praised the craft in the character work: “From a pure fic standpoint, it tells a compelling story about a mare imprisoned within a book, and is creepy while simultaneously earning the reader’s sympathies for a villain (maybe even a ‘monster’). The turn/reveal/prestige at the end also makes it an interesting commentary on ‘death of the author’ for me.”  And Present Perfect was most impressed by the consistent eye for detail: “I had so much fun finding the little inconsistencies, the seeming mistakes, and the really, really hidden stuff.  It was every bit as much fun watching the story unravel, too.  Muse’s unstable emotional state comes through in chilling ways.”

Even curators turned off by the story’s structure found themselves admiring it.  “I’m here to read a story, not play a game … the concept behind Broken Bindings, though, struck me as a really nice answer to a lot of my objections,” AugieDog said.  “If I’d just stumbled across this story on my own, I would’ve stopped about page 6, but since I was reading it for the RCL, I kept going — and found myself immensely impressed with the character’s voice, the little animations and nutty typography stuff, and the rising tension.”  And in the end, our biggest regrets were not getting to the tale sooner.  “I meant to nominate this one myself. This is what I get for procrastinating,” FanOfMostEverything said.  “In any case, this is a glorious exercise in using the medium to its absolute fullest.”

Read on for our author interview, in which anonpencil discusses brie bathing, editor cheating, and dream infiltration.
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Convention break 2018!

27 Friday Jul 2018

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We’re continuing our longstanding tradition of taking this week off, to make certain that every story we feature gets its time in the sun.  With many members of the fandom at Bronycon for the weekend, and others at Galacon, we felt that posting a feature might result in an excellent story getting overlooked.

Rest assured, we’ll be back next week with a brand new feature. Have a fun, safe convention weekend, everyone!