Bad Horse’s “The Magician And The Detective”

24 Friday Jan 2014

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Today’s story presents a uniquely Equestrian interpretation of a singularly brilliant sleuth — and there’s more at stake here than a mystery to solve.

magician-detectiveThe Magician And The Detective
[Romance] [Sad] [Crossover] [Adventure] • 14,685 words

To Holmes, she is always the mare.  In his eyes she eclipses the whole of her sex, and fills him with admiration and loathing.  Whether she in fact stole the Starry Night was ultimately beside the point.  What mattered to Holmes was that he had been matched at his own game, by a mare; that it had not been altogether unpleasant; and that she had caused him, however briefly, to turn his keen and unflinching gaze upon himself.

FROM THE CURATORS: “If this were just one of Doyle’s Holmes stories, it’d ‘just’ be good,” Chris said — but this story goes well beyond that, and impressed us enough for a rare unanimous approval.

Beyond the mystery, there’s also a deep deconstruction of both MLP’s and Doyle’s characters, which brings them to life in a way few stories manage.  “It’s got so much to say about its characters I think in some ways I’m still processing it,” Horizon said.  Chris added, “The interpretation of Trixie really sells it for me.  She deftly walks the line between sympathetic and antagonistic.”

The twists of the final chapters also spurred high praise.  “The phrase Tour de Force gets tossed around far too often, but I’d absolutely describe this fic’s end as such,” Chris said.

Read on for our interview, in which Bad Horse discusses interactive literature, Sherlock Holmes’ class consciousness, and a writing tip well worth repeating.
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Insert Pen Name’s “The Fight for Cranberry Hill”

17 Friday Jan 2014

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Today’s story is breezy, lighthearted, and utterly endearing.  Moreover, it’s a perfect complement to the winter season in which we’re now embroiled, and a refreshingly fun look at childhood–and the tribulations which spring therefrom.

cranberry-hillThe Fight for Cranberry Hill
[Comedy] [Slice of Life] • 9,539 words

It’s winter in Ponyville, and Diamond Tiara is queen of the Hill. Can the Cutie-Mark Crusaders cast her from her snowy fortress?

FROM THE CURATORS: “It’s a happy story about happy ponies doing happy things,” said Ben, and sometimes that’s all a story needs to be.  All of us noted its native sincerity, resulting in a fic which is pleasantly satisfying without being cloying.  Moreover, we found it to be genuinely funny: “The foals’ earnest delivery of war-movie clichés is just the right amount of absurd,” said Horizon, and although Present Perfect was less eloquent, he concurred.  “All the war jokes are amazing,” as he put it.

Read on for our interview, in which Insert Pen Name discusses his standards for what he publishes, waxes nostalgic about his childhood, and reveals how he deals with memes in his works.
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Horse Voice’s “Biblical Monsters”

10 Friday Jan 2014

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Today’s story is a controversial, yet powerful look at a meeting of cultures gone horribly wrong.

biblical-monstersBiblical Monsters
[Tragedy] [Dark] [Human] • 10,947 words

At 3:15 AM, Adams woke me with a loud knock on my front door.

“Put your boots on,” he said when I answered. “There’s a biblical monster in my house.”

FROM THE CURATORS: As a glance through the story’s overflowing comments section will show you, this is a piece which is not afraid to be thought-provoking.  Its final chapters take a swerve from quiet tension into some of the most unflinching Dark fiction in the fandom.  What makes Biblical Monsters remarkable is how effectively it supports that twist.  “Horse Voice did a great job setting up his character and motivations to make the ending a tragically logical inevitability,” Chris said. Benman added: “The clues were there all along.  The core themes and conflicts are constant throughout.”

We all agreed that the story, in Chris’ words, “practically screams ‘literary.'”  The quality of the writing is exemplary.  Benman went even further: “I decided a while ago to limit my FIMFic favorites list to ten stories. This is currently one of them.”

Read on for our interview, in which Horse Voice discusses thematic twists, anonymous villains, and lessons learned while handling controversy.
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GAPJaxie’s “The Arbitrage Of Moments”

03 Friday Jan 2014

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Today’s story is remarkably haunting: a giant, tangled moral conundrum with no easy answers.

arbitrageThe Arbitrage Of Moments
[Sad] [Slice of Life] • 12,168 words

When you have so little, and another has so much, it’s easy to justify theft. The more precious the commodity, the easier it is to tell yourself you need it more than they do. And what is more precious than time?

FROM THE CURATORS: This story is nothing if not thought-provoking — and fittingly, it spurred one of our liveliest debates during nomination. One line in particular (you’ll know it when you read it) was remarkably polarizing. “(That line) literally made me put my tablet down for a minute to think about how correct its speaker was,” Horizon said.  “Any story that forces you to stop and reflect like that is doing something very right.”  Chris disagreed: “I cringed at (that line), but there’s too much here I like to get caught up on it.”

Overall, we were impressed with the story’s compelling premise and the wrenching dilemma of the cast.  “The character actions … and emotional reactions rang true,” Chris said.  “I liked the subtle horror and mystery of it,” Vimbert said.

Read on for our interview, in which GAPJaxie discusses when not to use changelings and reveals the inherent contradictions of Rarity.
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Ebon Mane’s “Tired”

27 Friday Dec 2013

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Today’s story is a moving look at what happens when the story’s over but the characters still remain.

tiredTired
[Sad] [Slice of Life] • 7,033 words

Though the distance between Pinkie Pie and her five closest friends has grown in the half-century since they claimed their Elements, she does what she can to prevent the others from drifting away. It’s small things, mostly: tea with Rarity, a drink with Rainbow Dash, a few words with each of the others. The friendship still makes each day together magic, and she works as hard as ever to bring cheer to all of her friends. When the smiles come less frequently, that just makes each one that much more precious.

FROM THE CURATORS: The fandom is thick with stories about the longing and loss that await the Mane Six with the passage of time, but you don’t have to read much of “Tired” to learn why it’s such an exemplar of the genre: it’s got rare depth and maturity. “There’s no trickery here, no overblown drama, just life’s changes and the difficulties those can bring,” Vimbert said. Horizon added, “I’ve never seen a sadfic so effortlessly sandwich smiles and saudade.”

It’s also packed with strong moments of characterization and exquisite turns of phrase such as “Trivialities move the sun through the sky.” Not a word feels wasted. “The story’s brevity heightens the impact,” Chris said. “It doesn’t weigh itself down … and as a result is utterly moving.”

Read on for our interview, in which Ebon Mane discusses when not to write dialogue, and the convention experience that led to a “grand reconciliation with his mortality.”
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AugieDog’s “In Their Highnesses’ Clandestine Corps”

20 Friday Dec 2013

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It’s hard to know how to categorize today’s feature.  An action-packed spy thriller?  A Blueblood/Rainbow Dash (?!) shipfic?  A smart deconstruction of the James Bond archetype?  It’s all of these and more.

clandestine_corps

In Their Highnesses’ Clandestine Corps
[Adventure] [Romance] • 28,733 words

Prince Blueblood dislikes being secret agent Double-O-Zeta, but since no pony does it better, the princesses won’t let him quit.  Trailing the mad unicorn Green Briar to Ponyville, though, Blueblood runs into Rainbow Dash, already investigating the odd new pony in the area.  She resents this jerkwad of a prince suddenly butting in, and when circumstances force the two to work together, the unexpected feelings they arouse in each other might prove more dangerous than anything Green Briar has planned.

FROM THE CURATORS: This story was an easy choice — there was so much in it to appreciate that our biggest debate during the nomination process was what its strongest feature was. We never did agree:

“I love that the author finds a way to make Blueblood so enjoyable as a protagonist right from the start, without sacrificing his salient points of characterization,” Chris said. “The way he grows through the story feels far more natural than your run-of-the-mill redemption fic.”

“Wow, Zecora paraphrasing a Pinkie Promise. That takes talent,” Present Perfect said.

“Pinkie’s one of the hardest characters in the fandom to write well, and here she is done exquisitely as a cameo role, just as an offhanded little bonus,” Horizon said. “And every moment of the Luna vs. Blueblood scene was a thing of beauty.”

Read on for our interview, in which AugieDog discusses how to sell unusual shipping pairs, psychoanalyzes Discord, and outlines the difference between professional writing and fanfiction.
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Blueshift’s “Home is Where the Harp Is”

13 Friday Dec 2013

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Today we bring you a surprisingly dark story from an author better known for his comedies — and a story which shows that “dark” doesn’t have to mean “violent and edgy.”

Home is Where the Harp Is
[Dark] • 6,312 words

Ever since Bon-Bon left for a new life in Manehatten, Lyra’s life has lost its focus. She gets up, she goes to work, she eats, she goes to sleep. One day she knows she’s going build up the courage to tell Bon-Bon how she really feels about her and they can live happily ever after.

That day will never come. Something terrible is happening in Equestria. Something that could be the end of the world. The Smooze has arrived and no-one can stop it, not even Twilight Sparkle. What hope then does Lyra have?

FROM THE CURATORS:  There was quite a bit of discussion concerning whether this was the best fanfic of the author’s to showcase; Blueshift has written plenty in other genres, and it’s difficult to compare a goofy, light-hearted parody with a much more serious piece like this.

But in the end, we all felt that Home is Where the Harp Is was an undeniably high-quality piece of writing: “…if anything of Blueshift’s gets put up, it should be “Home is Where the Harp Is,” which is better than nearly every other story in the fandom I’ve ever read,” said Vimbert.

Read on for our surprisingly breezy interview, in which Blueshift talks about the difference between writing drama and comedy, his love of repurposing characters and elements, and his fandom background in another Hasbro franchise.
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NTSTS’s “‘The Art of the Dress’ or ‘Expectations'”

06 Friday Dec 2013

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This week brings us a journey into the early days of the fandom, with a story which delves into the darkest parts of one pony’s psyche to ask weighty questions about our relationship with our art.

art-of-the-dress

“The Art of the Dress” or “Expectations”
[Dark] • 8,547 words

Rarity finds herself especially intrigued by the dresses of Ponyville’s newest dressmaker. Struggling under the burden of her own adoration she finds herself trapped within an existential crisis. In this nihilistic twilight, she clings onto the last of her creative sanity, trying to pierce through the mysterium that is the new dressmaker’s identity. A story that deals with what it is to be and, subsequently, what it is to not be in the world of creativity.

FROM THE CURATORS: It takes a fine touch for art to be able to talk about art in a way that’s more than simply navel-gazing, but this piece weaves together two threads of meta-discussion that also function on several other levels — as a family drama and as a magical-realism psychological horror story.  “A well-crafted story,” Benman said, and Present Perfect agreed: “A deep and haunting piece with a lot of great imagery.”  “Rarity is impeccably characterized,” Horizon added.

As the description suggests, this is a story that sets out deep themes and does not flinch from them.  While this means that it may be more challenging for casual readers, those willing to explore its ideas in greater depth should find rich rewards.  “The story’s like a modern art installation,” Horizon said. “It always feels like there’s something more to be found if I dig a little further.”

Read on for our interview, in which NTSTS explores the fundamental nature of creation, discusses how to keep a healthy perspective on the quality of your work, and reveals how a writing prompt about love led to a tale about existential crisis.
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Norsepony’s “The War And What Came After”

29 Friday Nov 2013

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This week’s story wanders far afield from the Equestria we know, painting a dark and compelling picture of an ancient tragedy.

war_and_what_came_after

The War And What Came After
[Dark] [Adventure] • 21,487 words

The earth had belonged to the People since time immemorial, until the ponies came to push them out. For centuries, they have hidden in the forest and the hills, slowly losing ground to their enemies.

But now the gods have chosen two young warriors.

FROM THE CURATORS: The majority of our debate over this story centered around its distance from the show — it’s essentially original fiction seasoned with some Equestrian spice.  “For most of the fic, I was listening to a little voice in my head saying “at what point does this tie in to FIM in any way?'” Chris said.  However, it won him over: “I never felt like I was wasting my time with it — that’s what I want out of a good story … and the characters are all beautifully grey yet sympathetic.”

Ultimately, that detachment from the source material gave the story room to show off one of its strongest features: its exemplary worldbuilding. “A satisfying story for me on many levels,” Horizon said.  “I especially love his use of language to reinforce his setting.”

Read on for our interview, where Norsepony discusses the magic of writing, the joys of research, and which kinds of elves make the best ponyfic protagonists.
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Kegisak’s “The Colour You Bleed”

22 Friday Nov 2013

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Today’s story is quite a bit longer than the last few we’ve featured, but don’t let its size scare you away.  Behind those fifteen chapters (plus an epilogue) lies a classic tale of revenge, betrayal, and growth, couched in immersive worldbuilding.

colour_you_bleedThe Colour You Bleed
[Dark] [Adventure] • 137,610 words

Caught in the middle of a struggle between Equestria and a neighboring country, Blueblood finds himself alone in unfriendly territory. Through trials and hardships he finds himself under the wing of a veteran soldier, and the arrogant, spoiled stallion begins a slow metamorphosis into the prince his country needs.

FROM THE CURATORS:  One thing all of us were impressed by when we read the story was how unrelentingly interesting it was; “I was hooked on this from the moment I read the first chapter,” said Vimbert.  Kegisak wastes no time introducing high-stakes drama to his work, weaving a grim but still distinctly Equestrian tone into his tale

Despite the [dark] tag, The Colour You Bleed managed to appeal to even those of us who tend to be wary of that label; as Chris put it: “the characters and settings are so wonderfully developed that this feels like a natural outgrowth of the people and places to which the tale takes you.”

Read on for our interview, in which the author reflects on the fandom’s need to develop Blueblood, the challenges of writing redemptive stories, and the blatant favoritism he shows towards white unicorns, in his writing and his “best pony”ing.
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