Tag Archives: comedy

Oroboro’s “Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer Are Dead”

23 Friday Sep 2016

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I’m stuck inside today’s story, trying to find a way out.  (Please send help.)

starlight-sunset-are-deadStarlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer Are Dead
[Comedy] [Crossover] [Random] • 3,837 words

Two magical prodigies cast in Twilight’s shadow stumble about in somepony else’s story and try to find meaning in their lives.

An affectionate parody of Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Which is in itself an absurdist and existentialist parody of Hamlet.

FROM THE CURATORS: With many of our featured authors, we face a difficult choice of which of their RCL-quality stories to spotlight — and in this case, we decided that good things come in small packages.  “I’ve been trying for months now to work up a pitch for either of Oroboro’s 100,000+ word epics, The Heart of an Author or Fractured Sunlight, but this story displays all the author’s positives without making anyone take a week off to read it,” AugieDog said.

Chief among those positives was Oroboro’s way with words.  “My favorite part of this is how the dialogue changes when it stops being ‘their story’,” Present Perfect said.  “Everyone talks like an overblown stage actor; it’s quirky and marvelous and just a fascinating way to show what’s going on.”  That deft touch extended from the small touches to some larger ones.  “This story certainly chooses its fourth-wall breaks well, and every one of them got a grin out of me,” Horizon said.  “The narrator judging the story with ‘Then she galloped off to save her marefriend or whatever’ was a great blend of subtle and satirical.  And I love that it effortlessly shifts back and forth from that sort of hilarity to sober discussions of stories and our role in them.”

Our biggest debate was over how authentic this was to the source that it drew from.  “This does just enough to distinguish itself from R&GAD to be a fresh take on the subject,” Chris said, “but I don’t think this makes any cogent statement about secondary realities or fictional existence the same way the source material does.”  To AugieDog, however, that was a positive: “This takes the idea of the existential metadrama and makes it absolutely Pony,” he said.  “Yes, Starlight and Sunset come to realize that the story they’re in isn’t about them at all, but their reactions to this state of affairs are nicely free of angst, and the ending gives the two more leeway than Rosencrantz and Guildenstern get in the last scene of their play.” And Horizon thought this was best evaluated as its own story rather than as a statement on Stoppard’s play: “Whether or not this is meaningful in the meta, it’s profound in the small and does make a statement in the large.  Like any good crossover, it stakes out ground of its own in between its two sources.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Oroboro discusses normal speaking voices, great lunches, and Japanese-accented orcs.
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AestheticB’s “Twilight Sparkle Gets A Free Salad”

16 Friday Sep 2016

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Today’s story puts over-the-top action on the menu.

free-saladTwilight Sparkle Gets A Free Salad
[Comedy] [Random] • 9,142 words

One beautiful morning, Twilight Sparkle decides she wants a free salad. After a small amount of theft, assault, battery, and arson, she sits down to enjoy what is sure to be the best tasting salad ever.

…Or she would have, if it weren’t for the Equestrian Intelligence Service locking her up as a potential threat to national security. Now, Twilight must escape a maximum security holding facility hidden deep underneath Canterlot. And to do it, she’ll need a paperclip, a spymare catsuit, an escape plan, and an alliance with the dastardly Drakbog, King of Frogs.

FROM THE CURATORS: While some stories achieve greatness because they invite the reader to explore hidden depths, there’s also something to be said for tales that make bold promises up front and then deliver.  Twilight Sparkle Gets A Free Salad — and its protagonist’s destruction of a fast-food restaurant — is firmly in that second camp.  “It’s a perfect exercise in over-the-top ridiculousness,” Present Perfect said.  “It’s one of those few random comedies that really avails itself well of both tags.”  For his part, Chris praised the balance it brought to that extreme approach: “Free Salad is a comedy of hyper-exaggeration, in terms of both characters and overall plot,” he said. “But while this might be an exaggerated setting, it’s a consistently exaggerated one, which lets the reader feel moored in the story even as they’re able to appreciate the absurdities on which it’s founded.”

What makes this story shine is that that exaggeration works.  “It’s about Twilight freaking out in a way that’s actually funny,” Present Perfect said, while Chris praised the range of its silliness: “Even outside of its core humor, there’s a nice blend of other comedy, from cheap shots at academia to visual gags rendered (often surprisingly well) into a written medium.”  Horizon appreciated that too: “Just because a comedy is random doesn’t mean it has to be dumb.  This cracks some remarkably sharp jokes, like The Manager’s academic background and Twilight’s explanation for her martial arts skills.”

And while not everything reinforced that humor, even the parts which didn’t had some pleasant surprises.  “For the most part, the fight scenes don’t contribute to the comedy — though gags like the salad left behind the blast door sneak in around the edges — but they are vivid and clever, especially the gravity manipulation,” Horizon said.  What that added up to, as AugieDog said, was a welcome bit of whimsy: “I did end up skimming the fight scenes, but this sort of smartly-delivered silliness always has a place in my cheese-like brain.”

Read on for our author interview, in which AestheticB discusses pony-filled singularities, justified justification, and melodramatically vomiting sisters.
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ph00tbag’s “Numberography”

02 Friday Sep 2016

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You can count on today’s story for a rich exploration of Equestrian history.

numberographyNumberography
[Adventure] [Comedy] • 6,896 words

Once upon a time, ponies did not know how to count very far. Clover the Clever tells her two young fillies the story of how her mentor, Starswirl the Bearded, learned the secret of counting from the dragons.

FROM THE CURATORS: It seems wholly appropriate that what turned our heads about a story so steeped in mathematics is how much work it put into the little details.  “The worldbuilding is continuous, effortless, and endlessly surprising,” Horizon said.  “Every time the story turns a corner I stumble across a new, cool tidbit: Clover indirectly earning her nickname due to Discord; pegasus attitudes on how to win battles; Starswirl’s random encounter with the ascetic monkeys.”  Chris appreciated the finer details as well: “I really like the explanation for why ponies count in base ten.”  That wasn’t the only thing Present Perfect marveled at: “It definitely has something to say about the scientific process, at the end of the day, and it’s quite a charming piece.”

And while the luxurious detail attracted us, it was the story’s charm and tone which sealed the deal.  “The legend is a quite pleasant read — told in the manner of a just-so tale, with a much-appreciated vein of humor running through it,” Chris said.  AugieDog also commented on that whimsy.  “I love the goofy sweetness here,” he said.  “I mean, even though we’re smack-dab in the middle of Discord’s reign, the biggest worry ponies seem to have is how to keep reading when day has a tendency to switch over to night without notice. … This story is pony through and through.”

The ponies, too, were memorable.  “Star Swirl the legend is contrasted to Star Swirl the pony, as Clover remembers him, and it’s a lot of fun seeing how the various parties he approaches defy his wish to count higher than eight with simple practicality,” Present Perfect said, and Horizon went further: “Everyone we meet, down to the bit parts, is memorable and fun.  In particular, Filly Luna is super adorbs and the dragon steals her scene.”  Overall, Horizon added, this was an all-around standout work: “Oh my, yes.  Very yes.  I don’t think even the abrupt ending can keep me from following the author immediately.”

Read on for our author interview, in which ph00tbag discusses epiglottal frication, rollercoaster pee, and titular eggcorns.
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PhycoKrusk’s “Anypony for Doomsday?”

24 Friday Jun 2016

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Anypony for a comedy about Twilight Sparkle causing the apocalypse?  Today’s story delivers.

anypony-for-doomsdayAnypony for Doomsday?
[Comedy] [Slice of Life] • 11,613 words

“All unicorns build doomsday devices!” Those five words were words that Twilight Sparkle never expected to hear next to each other and in that specific order in a sentence.

King Sombra has returned, and upon discovering that Twilight Sparkle has not even considered building a doomsday device, has given her an ultimatum: Either she builds a device that has the sole purpose of destroying the world, or he starts defacing her books.

The clock is ticking: Will Twilight be able to get in touch with her inner mad science and save her imperiled reading material? More importantly, is she really destined to bring about the end of the world? Are unicorns really nothing more than a cosmic reset button, poised to bring a halt to all existence at a moment’s notice even in the face of past evidence suggesting that they’re not very good at it? Will Twilight succeed where all others have presumably failed? Does she even want to?

Join in as we follow the journey to answer the question on minds the world over: “Anypony for Doomsday?”

FROM THE CURATORS: If there’s anything rarer around here than all of us agreeing, it’s all of us agreeing on comedy — and yet this story scored a unanimous approval for exactly that reason.  “I was laughing from just the description,” Soge said, while AugieDog called the story “just plain full of chocolate-sprinkled giggles.”  Present Perfect upped the ante: “I cannot remember the last time I read a story so serious about being silly.  It’s gleefully goofy, wonderfully wacky, and quite a larf indeed.”

But if this fic is serious about its comedy, it’s a special sort of seriousness that toes up to the line of the Random tag.  “This is a purely ridiculous story, one that’s perfectly willing to destroy its own internal consistency, to casually toss aside its very premise, or to unapologetically break the fourth wall,” Chris said.  “But if there’s one thing a cracky fic must absolutely be, it’s consistently funny, and there is precisely zero dead space to be found here.”  Present Perfect seconded that: “This wastes no words not being funny. The running gags (doorbell!) are funny, the sudden status quo changes are funny, the premise is funny, everything’s funny.”  And AugieDog drew comparisons to the classics.  “This made me think of Mark Twain’s line about the weather in New England: ‘In the spring I have counted one hundred and thirty-six different kinds of weather inside of four-and-twenty hours,'” he said.  “There were so many chuckles per column inch in this story that when I hit something that didn’t work for me, I knew that I just had to keep going to find something that did.”

It wasn’t just the joke density that impressed us, but how many of them landed.  “This fic is golden,” Soge said, “with many different and clever running jokes that always seem to work, like the constant weather openings, the naming conventions, and the editing mistakes.”  Horizon specifically called those out as well: “The jokes about editing mistakes are an example of the comic touch that makes this story exemplary.  The first time I saw one, I disliked it as a cheap fourth-wall cop-out — but it kept pushing on with the gag, and owned it so thoroughly and so creatively it broke through into something hilarious.”

Read on for our author interview, in which PhycoKrusk discusses exciting underwear, deserving joy, and lion/eagle errors.

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Ceffyl Dwr’s “True Bowmance”

17 Friday Jun 2016

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There’s plenty to enjoy about today’s story — but if you suddenly and mysteriously fall in love with its tale, it’s time to run away screaming.

true-bowmanceTrue Bowmance
[Comedy] [Drama] [Slice of Life] • 10,049 words

Coming from a proud family celebrated for their ability at helping ponies fall in love, Archer wants nothing more than to be able to carry on the Cupid tradition.  What helps is that her mother is one of the most successful Cupids to ever walk Equestria.

What helps less is that Archer is possibly the worst.

But that’s not going to stop her from trying.

FROM THE CURATORS: For a story whose main character so consistently fails to touch hearts, this certainly grabbed ours.  Soge, for example, praised the story’s emotional impact and construction: “This is a straight-up adorable, really heartwarming fic, and one I really enjoyed reading.  All the ponies are characterized very well, and are very believable in their actions, without that affecting negatively either the plot or the comedic timing.”  That humor, too, drew its own share of praise.  “The comedy in this story is consistent and engaging, a nice blend of puns, callbacks, and narrative observational humor,” Chris said, and AugieDog agreed: “This is just so appealingly goofy.”

On top of that, True Bowmance was stuffed with sharp ideas that fired up our imaginations.  “It never ceases to amaze me, the stories we can come up for for incidental characters,” Present Perfect said.  “Who comes up with ‘matchmaking earth pony magic’ for someone like Archer?  This is an excellent work of original, on-tone world-building.”  Chris was equally impressed with that for similar reasons: “On that note, isn’t ‘hereditary matchmakers’ just a perfectly Equestrian job?  I mean, it edges creepily up on suggesting that free will is an illusion, but stays firmly on the heartwarming side of that line.”

The cherry on top of this tale’s sundae of matchmaking failures, however, was the exemplary character work.  “Pinkie works wonderfully as both comic relief and moral support,” Present Perfect noted, while Soge enjoyed the main character’s portrayal: “It does the whole ‘oblivious youngster’ thing, a la early-seasons Cutie Mark Crusaders, very well.”  That led to a comment from AugieDog that sent shivers down all of our spines: “The only thing that would’ve made this better would’ve been the Cutie Mark Crusaders trying to help Archer out, but I find myself thinking the town might not have survived that particular meeting.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Ceffyl Dwr discusses kelpie brothers, Bonfleur, and genealogical invasions.
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Kwakerjak’s “Flash Fog”

08 Friday Apr 2016

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It’s not hard to see why today’s story is a quality tale.

flash-fogFlash Fog
[Adventure] [Comedy] • 127,920 words

When Fluttershy received her certification as a fog specialist, she only wanted a plausible excuse to write off the expenses associated with her ground-based house on her taxes. However, when an accident in Cloudsdale sends a blanket of industrial-grade clouds rolling towards Ponyville, Fluttershy suddenly finds herself in charge of coordinating the response, mostly because she’s the only fog specialist in the area. Can our heroine step up to the challenge at hoof, or will she risk facing the wrath of the Equestrian Revenue Service?

FROM THE CURATORS: Though we found ourselves debating the merits of particular aspects of this story, there was one thing on which we all agreed: it effortlessly kept us turning the pages.  “Flash Fog spins a loose, sprawling, unfocused yarn which is nevertheless consistently entertaining on its own merits, and it has plenty of humor without sacrificing story at the altar of comedy,” Chris said.  Horizon agreed: “This is a highly readable story, with laconic, page-flipping prose and concise chapters that make it feel like a breeze.”  AugieDog, meanwhile, pulled out cinematic comparisons: “The main storyline — actually dealing with the fog — kept making me think of those ‘all-star cast’ disaster films of the 1970s and 80s, but I mean that in a good way. The tension, the conflicted characters, the setbacks and triumphs: it was all very fun to read.”

Disaster films weren’t the only comparison being made.  “This story’s like one of these modern open-world RPGs, where you have a main plot, but it doesn’t stand out that much from the multiple side quests on the way,” Soge said.  “But that also works in the story’s favor since, even if you don’t enjoy one particular distraction (like, say, the Lyra and Bon Bon human stuff), you can be fairly sure that it won’t affect much.”  Chris, too, praised the wide-ranging nature of the story’s explorations.  “Some of these interpositions are almost entirely unconnected from the titular fog,” he said, “but what they collectively accomplish is to showcase a wide range of Equestrian low-key goofiness, from the Cutie Mark Crusaders building convoluted Rube-Goldbergian traps to the insipid idiocies of a superior’s pointlessly idiosyncratic speaking style.”

What really made this story sing, however, was the sharp way that the broad ensemble cast was portrayed.  “The characters are spot on target,” AugieDog said, and Chris agreed: “I was consistently impressed with how the characters responded to events in-universe.”  Chris went on to praise the depiction of Fluttershy in particular: “An on-point mix of soft-spoken, nervous, and uncertain, she nevertheless doesn’t fall into the ‘weak-willed waif’ trap that many writers — and sometimes, the show itself — cast her as.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Kwakerjak discusses exploding vignettes, unplanned deuteragonists, and the collision of cameos and H.P. Lovecraft.

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naturalbornderpy’s “Princess Celestia’s Newest Arch Enemy”

19 Friday Feb 2016

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Prepare for an adorable war on your heartstrings as today’s story marches into the library shelves.

newest-arch-enemyPrincess Celestia’s Newest Arch Enemy
[Comedy] [Random] [Slice of Life] • 4,656 words

When a colt named “Bad Dude” storms into Celestia’s personal study and declares himself as her latest arch enemy, the Princess can’t help but nearly gush from the sight. As perhaps the cutest villain Celestia has ever encountered, she hurriedly calls for Luna to meet him as well.

But is there more to “Bad Dude” than his cute exterior would suggest?

No. No there is not.

FROM THE CURATORS: This story’s path to a feature started — as so many others do — with outside word-of-mouth.  “The clickbait title and blatant appeal to cuteness should have made this story radioactive to me, but when MightyFenrir recommended it, I had to see what that was about,” Horizon said. “What I found was a story that pulled off a surprisingly intricate balancing act between adorable, silly, authentic, and subversive.”

What immediately leapt out at us was the humor that also sent this story rocketing to the top of the Featurebox. “I’m beside myself,” Present Perfect said.  “The Potatoville line is about the funniest thing I’ve heard all week.  This is what reading Progress was like, way back in the day.”  AugieDog was more metaphorical (but no less effusive) in his praise: “Good silly is hard to do.  When we’re all supposed to be sliding and giggling together down the side of Silly Mountain, more often than not we in fact get our sleeves caught on the rocky outcrop of ‘Eh, it’s okay’ or the creosote bush of ‘Yeah, I guess.’  But this one was silly all the way to the bottom.”

It wasn’t just the humor that caught our eye, though — there was also plenty to love about the characterization.  “What makes the story for me is Celestia,” Horizon opined, while Chris said: “Bad Dude may be one-note, but it’s a funny note.”  And the story carried its premise through to a strong ending.  “It manages to pull off a genuine twist without breaking tone,” Horizon said.  “Watching that unfold was the moment that elevated this from ‘enjoyable read’ to ‘RCL feature’.”

Read on for our author interview, in which naturalbornderpy discusses visual drugs, story graveyards, and riding the soup-can gravy train.
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Fervidor’s “Paper Promises”

04 Friday Dec 2015

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Today’s story cashes in on the show’s universe to teach a lesson worth its weight in gold.

paper-promisesPaper Promises
[Comedy] [Slice of Life] • 4,040 words

Filthy Rich has a problem. His daughter, Diamond Tiara, keeps breaking her promises to treat her classmates with more respect. In fact, she doesn’t even seem to really understand what a promise is. Since punishing her does not seem to have much effect, Mr Rich is forced to consider a more creative parenting method. But how can he make such a spoiled, materialistic little filly as Diamond Tiara see the value of a promise?

With money, of course!

FROM THE CURATORS: We were pleased to discover that this fic offers something greater than the sum of its pony parts.  “This is one of those rare stories that manages to mesh human history seamlessly with the things we like about the show,” Horizon said.  “It certainly feels true to the characters, but it combines that with a lesson so roundabout and engaging you barely realize that you’re learning about real-world economic collapse.”

The vivid writing of that central plot got our unanimous acclaim.  “The lesson itself is illustrated cleverly, and in a way that sticks thanks to how original it is,” Present Perfect said, while Chris agreed: “It’s a good message, and the ponies delivering it are suited to the task.”  AugieDog, meanwhile, found reason for nostalgia.  “I’m having flashbacks to this series of old Warner Bros. cartoons in which the virtues of capitalism are expounded upon by folks like Sylvester the Cat and Elmer Fudd,” AugieDog said. “This one worked better than those ever did for me, though, because it’s a bit larger in scope and fits in well with the world of Equestria.”

And that was far from the only thing to appreciate about the story.  “There are some nice bits of humor around the edges,” Chris said.  “Fluttershy’s bit made me grin.”  Horizon was impressed that this older fic still faithfully fit within canon post-Crusaders of the Lost Mark: “Clever move, leaving the resolution open-ended like that.”  And Present Perfect praised the character arcs: “A well-written Diamond Tiara learns an important lesson in a way that is tailor-made for her to understand,” he said.  “And for all that Filthy Rich has to confront that he’s failed as a parent at the outset, he redeems himself by the end with the little trick he plays on his daughter.”  Ultimately, that made this story not only clever but also heartwarming.  “This wonderfully showcases the breadth of fanfic, and uses the characters in ways that enrich us,” Horizon said.  “That’s worth celebrating.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Fervidor discusses alternate calendars, delusions of grandeur, and non-dramatic kidnappings.
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GhostOfHeraclitus’ “A Canterlot Carol”

16 Friday Oct 2015

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See the softer side of a much-beloved bureaucrat with today’s reader-selected tale.

canterlot-carolA Canterlot Carol
[Comedy] [Slice of Life] • 6,464 words

The business of government never stops, and paperwork never rests, even on Hearthwarming. But this particular Hearthwarming, Cabinet Secretary and tea enthusiast Dotted Line plans to do his level best to see it, at least, take a break. His ponies need to go home to their families, and he, well, he has plans this Hearthwarming.

FROM THE CURATORS: This week’s feature is a little unusual — we asked readers to choose a story from one of our already-featured authors in order to return the spotlight to their vast wells of talent.  Ten nominations and hundreds of votes later, when the dust finally settled, this Hearth’s Warming Eve tale had captured the most hearts.

“Ghost of Heraclitus’ Whom the Princesses Would Destroy is in the Pony Fiction Vault. Twilight Sparkle Makes a Cup of Tea is in the RCL. But this is, I think, the crown to the scepter and robe,” Titanium Dragon said in A Canterlot Carol’s nomination.  “Whether it be Dotted Line’s conflict with eldritch monstrosities inhabiting his chimney, his conversations with his staff that shows that they are true comrades, to the conversation with the Zebrican ambassador about Prince Blueblood’s non-apology, all the way through to Dotted Line’s plans, every part of this is memorable and enjoyable.”  Voters agreed, and so did we: “This is equal parts amusing, thoughtful and touching, and often in surprising ways,” Present Perfect said.  (Bradel, for his part, so enjoyed the story that he recorded a dramatic reading of it.)

While we found the story engaging throughout, one of the elements that we repeatedly singled out for praise was the way in which it built up themes for powerful later impacts. “It’s the ending where this story truly shines, where we see how far Dotted Line’s compassion and dedication extends,” JohnPerry said.  “For a story dealing largely with bureaucratic affairs, this one is surprisingly heartwarming.”  AugieDog noted that this care with continuity extended to Ghost’s later stories: “Read the sequel, too.  Several things that are set up in A Canterlot Carol don’t pay off till An Afternoon for Dotted Line.  I can’t imagine the one story without the other.”  But that’s worth the effort, Present Perfect asserted: “Dotted Line is one of our fandom’s greatest treasures.  I don’t know how Ghost is so consistently entertaining, save that he, too, is a treasure.”

Read on for a special return interview, in which GhostOfHeraclitus discusses approximate peace, legendary tea-pickers, and Ghengis Khan’s naps.
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Sharp Spark’s “A Stallion for the Time Being”

10 Friday Jul 2015

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Today’s story just might transform you into a fan of unusual romance.

stallion-for-timeA Stallion For The Time Being
[Romance] [Comedy] • 21,026 words

Minuette is determined to have a nice date with a nice stallion, no matter what that takes.

Twilight Sparkle just wants her to stop wreaking havoc on the time-space continuum.

Things get complicated.

FROM THE CURATORS: “This is the sort of story that could only come out of fanfiction,” Horizon observed as this story was collecting a rare unanimous approval from our team. “The complete absence of non-brain-damaged stallions in Ponyville creates a sequence of events which leads to Twilight Sparkle turning herself into a stallion for a date.  Yes, it’s a textbook Rule 63 romance … but it’s a magnificent mix of earnest and ridiculous; both tones are applied with precision, and the two never get in each other’s way.”

R63 romances have a reputation for shallow fanservice, but there was so much else to like that this drew us all in — even as we disagreed on its strongest features. “The comedy was, for me, the real highlight here … even as it shifts more toward romance in the second half, it never abandons its essential goofiness,” Chris said, and AugieDog seconded that: “Fun all around.”  Present Perfect appreciated the story’s subtle profundity: “I love the ‘what is Twilight the princess of?’ joke, and I adore how much this ends up being about her wrestling with princesshood,” he said.  Horizon loved the prose: “Little touches like the internal monologue over pronouns are highlights of great voicing throughout.”  And, as JohnPerry pointed out, the central story was excellently executed as well.  “Brilliant comedy, with some gentle prods at shipping tropes, and a heartfelt, realized romance to boot,” he said. “This is a story that excels at both its tagged genres.”

All this from a story that started life as a whimsical exploration of the title’s double meaning. “The origin of the title (explained in the Author’s Note in the epilogue) is astounding, and just goes to show what you can accomplish if you’re willing to look at things in a novel light,” Present Perfect said.  We were all impressed by that, but Chris put it most eloquently: “It’s almost the opposite of episode 100.  Rather than take something that, at its best, is heartfelt, and make a joke of it, A Stallion for the Time Being takes a joke of a premise, and makes something heartfelt from that.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Sharp Spark discusses pulp changelings, Type II fun, and President Lyndon B. Johnson.
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